Tim Clark’s affinity with the Canberra Cup continued on Monday when the top Sydney jockey won the 2022 edition aboard Sacramento.
It was the fourth win in the past seven seasons for Clark in the $200,000 Listed event, having celebrated previous wins aboard Hippopus (2016), Dark Eyes (2017) and Samadoubt (2019).
“I’ve been very lucky to be on some pretty talented horses,” Clark, who has a close association with Sacramento’s trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, said.
“It’s a great effort by the stable because he was second up after a really long spell.
“It’s a bit of a hometown Cup for David (Lilley) and he’s been tying to win for a long time, so it’s nice to deliver.”
Sacramento, a five-year-old son of Pierro, carries the colours of Lilley, who grew up in Canberra.
“I’ve had five goes at (winning) it,” Lilley said. “When you’re born in Canberra and win the Canberra Cup, it’s something special.”
Clark demonstrated why he is considered one of the best front-running jockeys in the country when he dictated the 2000-metre event in front aboard the five-year-old, who owned a race-winning lead midway down the straight.
Dadoozdart ($6.50) finished powerfully but fell 1-1/2 lengths short of the $9 chance with local hope Five Kingdom ($8) half-a-length further back third, just clear of $4.60 favourite Toomuchtobear.
“I used him a fair bit early but as soon as I got there and dropped my hands on him he just relaxed beautifully and conserved his energy really well,” Clark said.
“When I started to the up the ante from the 700 I knew that it’d take a pretty good one to run him down.”