Hosking chasing northern Australia Cup double

By Jordan Gerrans

With a coveted Darwin Cup now on his resume, trainer Jamie Hosking now has his eyes on doing a northern Australia double later this month.

The Churchable-based conditioner has raced his team around South East Queensland consistently for the last five or so years.

But, he is a ‘Top End’ lad at heart, a born and bred Territorian and was the leading trainer in the city before relocating to the Sunshine State.

He annually makes the trip north to Winnellie Park to Darwin around this time of year to chase the local Cup.

It was a title that had alluded him and his late mentor and grandfather Mick Emery until this year.

The Hosking-prepared Eagle Monelli romped in to grab the Group 3 prize in front of a big crowd of Hosking’s friends and family on Sunday evening.

As his highly respected grandfather Emery could not win the Darwin Cup in his lifetime before his passing in 2018, the victory meant much more than just the $25,000 winning prize for Hosking.

“It was a race he always wanted to win but he was never able to,” Hosking said of Emery. 

“For some people it might just be the Darwin Cup, but for us, it is pretty special.

“It doesn’t get much better than that, I can now tick it off the bucket list.”

Eagle Monelli’s kennel mate Pebble's Girl ran into third in Sunday’s 537 metre Cup to cap off a memorable occasion for the Hosking clan.

The upcoming Townsville Cup is next on the agenda for the Hosking and Eagle Monelli team.

The Townsville Cup heats will be run next Friday evening before the Final seven days later on August 25. 

Balts Orson scored in 28.72 seconds on Tuesday evening at the Townsville Showgrounds complex to land in the Cup Final through the local Wildcard series, with the Final to be run for $75,000. 

Eagle Monelli’s recent first-up form at new tracks since he transferred into the care of Hosking has the trainer confident that he will be competitive at Townsville on Friday of next week.

“I am 90 per cent sure we will go to Townsville now, it is just about organising the logistics of it all now,” he said.

“He has pulled up good from Darwin. This dog travels well.

“He won first-up at Rocky in good time and while his heat run was not brilliant in Darwin, I think that proves he does not need a trial run at a new track when we go to Townsville.

“There is going to be some pretty good dogs in Townsville this year, it is good money again.”

Hosking has had a long association with Townsville husband and wife training duo Carol and Greg Pickard, who own Pebble's Girl.

It is expected to be a hot Townsville Cup series in 2023 with an array of strong visiting kennels set to descend on the North Queensland city alongside the local hopefuls.

“It is good for the industry to have top southern trainers come north for the Cup series,” premier Townsville trainer Bradley Belford said.

“It is great for people from down south to come here and see how hard it is to win a race at Townsville these days as it is hard work.

“There is a lot better calibre of dogs than there ever has been as the money is very good up here.”

The Darwin Cup victory was also extra satisfying for Hosking as he was not convinced Eagle Monelli could actually win the race.

The dog was forced to settle for second in the heat the week prior – beaten almost seven lengths – before bouncing back to form strongly on the night that mattered most.

Eagle Monelli previously did his racing with Steve Withers in Perth and has been with Hosking for his last five race starts.

“What made it so great to me was that while I wouldn’t say I didn’t think we could win the race, it was really anyone’s race,” he reflected.

“It is always better when you win a race like that when you are not going into it thinking you are going to win it.

“I have had some good dogs go up there over the years and it is not a money thing with the Darwin Cup, it is a race I always wanted to win. It was great to finally tick that one off the list.

“I’ve had some mixed results in the race over the years but last night everything just fell into place. The dog went fantastic.”

Hosking said he was busy working with a number of pups to prepare the next generation of his racing kennel.