Kentuckiana Lodge unleashed a pocket rocket at Addington on Friday night in debut winner Darby O’Gill.
The Cran and Chrissie Dalgety trained pacer showed he has a bright future when dashing along the passing lane to score with Carter Dalgety in the sulky.
Darby O’Gill is not a towering type by any means, but he certainly is a fast one.
The three-year-old zipped home in 56.2sec and 27.9sec final splits when barley asked for a serious effort.
“He’s not the biggest fella but he is definitely fast,” Carter said.
“I didn’t pull the plugs or anything and he sprinted up really nice.”
“You would think his speed is going to take him a long way.”
“He’s got a great attitude and he’s nicely gaited too, which all helps.”
“He has started off on the right note and we are looking forward to seeing what else he can do.”
Darby O’Gill paid back a big chunk of his purchase price back to Queensland owner John Gregg with his maiden victory.
Gregg showed his great eye for a horse when selecting the pacer for just $12,000 from the National Yearling Sales.
The horse has been with Kentuckiana Lodge ever since the sales and Cran and the team have liked him all of the way through.
“John’s picked out a wee cracker here and at a very nice price,” Cran said.
“Looking at the horse’s page there is a bit of breeding there, there has been some good success in Australia.”
“We broke him in and we’ve taken him right the way through and we haven’t been able to fault him.”
“It was great to get his career off on a perfect note and there are no doubts that the horse will take great benefit from going to the races and learning what it is all about.”
“We don’t know how far he will go just yet but if there is one certainty it is that he hasn’t finished winning yet.”
“He’s got a bright future.”
Darby O’Gill is one of several winners John Gregg has raced with Kentuckiana Lodge including Pocket Watch and Ajira.
