Almost 20 years on from his first Darwin Cup win as an 18-year-old,Michael Hickmott has claimed his fourth as Watadeel stormed home. Hickmott first lifted the coveted trophy in 2007 when General Market crossed as the winner, then came Activation (2009) and Canny Ballard (2016).

A decade on he’s back on top, this time with a horse ridden by Darwin’s own Zac Spain (right) while eyes were initially on another of his runners, Stormageddon.Hickmott said he would savour the win for a long time, drawing synergies to Canny Ballard.

“You don’t get much better than this for me, that’s my Melbourne Cup,”he said.“There’s so many synergies with this little horse and Canny Ballard, he had the ride the other day where nothing went right and everyone wrote him off.“And I said to a few people he’s got the better racing style, the other two were out the back and he put himself there.“To have my daughter and the whole family here and all my friends, I’ll savour this one for a long time.“I’ll be back to try and make it five next year.”

He saved a word for his jockey Spain who, in the lead up, he fibbed about to the owners. “I said he’s ridden a lot of winners here, he knows the track well, that washis first race here,” Hickmott said. “I think they’ll forgive me now after that race. “He ran an Alice Springs Cup winner for me one year and should have
raced the Darwin Cup but the owners took the horse away.

“He probably didn’t talk to me for a long time but I called him a couple weeks back and we locked it in.” Spain said it was the most fun he’s ever had in a race, surprising himself with a first-time win on his home track being the biggest of all. “It’s the most excitement I’ve ever had to be honest winning my
hometown cup,” he said. “Winning in front of family and a lot of my mates from school, it’s a different kind of excitement that’s for sure,” he said.

“I never thought I’d do it in my first race here having grown up here. “I travelled so well through the throughout and I knew he would sprint well when I cruised up to the leaders and we kicked I knew he was going to be awfully hard to beat.”

Story courtesy NT News