There was plenty of competitive racing and impressive performances at Fannie Bay on Saturday but none more so than Shakattak, who defeated a quality filed of open sprinters in a gritty performance in the bet365 sprint over 1200m.

It was the son of Shalaa’s third win on the bounce and after chasing tearaway leader Export Witness, he found himself taking the lead halfway down the straight before fending off the late challenges of Bon’s Pride for Jason Manning and his stablemate Seguso.

Shakattak has now taken his prizemoney to more than $130,000 and appears destined for bigger and better things in the Top End.

That was the first leg of the treble on the program for leading trainer Gary Clarke and stable jockey Jarrod Todd, and it backed up Clarke’s four winners from last week’s program to make it a big seven days for the stable.

Extreme Emotion and Change Is Coming were his other winners. Extreme Emotion followed the Neil Dyer trained Ariarne into the race gaining the upper hand in the straight to win over 1300m.

Change In Coming defied a betting drift.

The son of Capitalist jumped quickly and was ridden hard early by Todd to set up a big lead mid race and has his opposition off the bit and chasing a long way from home.

While he did get tired late, he was still comfortably clear of the Angela Forster trained Zoumist, who did catch the eye late, but Change Is Coming showed he races best when fresh and over a short courses he can take some catching when on his game.

Neil Dyer would have been pleased with the progression of Yaki Ishi, who made it back to back wins over 1200m.

He was well ridden by Adam Nicholls, who put the son of Maurice into the race early before he fought on tenaciously late to hold out the Phil Cole trained Ny Kee, who was good after winning her maiden last start.

Originally purchased out of the 2023 Darwin Magic Millions Tried Horse Sale, he has won more than $44,000 in prizemoney since that sale so is fast becoming a money spinner for his connections.

The day’s other winner was Scudetto for the Tommy and Sonja Logan combination. He is a new comer to their stable after being purchased from visiting trainer Heather Lehmann during the carnival.

He had to show plenty of fight but after saving ground mid race, he fought off the late challenge from favourite Siberian Larch for trainer Chloe Baxter, who looked to have his chance to run down the leader but narrowly missed out.

Racing returns to Fannie Bay on Saturday, October 5, when ther is sure to be plenty of quality racing on track for punters.

Story Courtesy of Greg Aldam