The second winner of the day was the Cosmic Dust gelding, Cosmic Vision, who had 
been sold by yours truely and my Son, Peter, last Augustl. He is a full brother to Spirits in the Sky who we sold last May and has won two races for Steve Beattie.
been sold by yours truely and my Son, Peter, last Augustl. He is a full brother to Spirits in the Sky who we sold last May and has won two races for Steve Beattie.We also sold Spirited Halo who won his last start by nine lengths at Wangaratta. Not much fun for people who love to go to the races and watch their horses run.
Maybe this will be an excuse to have the pleasure of visiting the Red Centre and take in the sights and see Cosmic Dust race.
Cosmic Vision will win many more races so let's today get to know all about the new trainer, Nev Conner.What dreams are made of
GREGOR MACTAGGART
July 31st, 2009
IT'S 8am on a typically brilliant Darwin dry season morning in July marked by the sun rising regally over Fannie Bay racecourse.
Most of the Top End's population is getting ready for the day ahead, but Nev Connor has already been up for a few hours preparing for the biggest week of his year.
The veteran Alice Springs trainer, who is closing in on 80 years of age, may be short in stature, but he is a giant of Territory horse racing.
Every year for the past three decades, Connor and his wife Bonnie have trekked north to the Top End in search of Darwin Cup Carnival glory.
While he tasted regular success - most notably in the 1995 Darwin Guineas with Jucent - the affable horseman couldn't quite crack it in the Territory's two premier races.
The Darwin Cup (2000m) is known around Australia, while the Palmerston Sprint (1200m) has a time-honoured history as the Territory's richest dash.
But in living proof of the old adage "good things come to those who wait", Connor's time did eventually come, thanks to a mercurial speedster named Jade City.
Bought for a modest four-figure sum from the late Bruce McLachlan in Queensland, Jade City changed Connor's life.
In his first start for Connor, he won a 1300m Class 3 at Fannie Bay by 10 lengths in July 2006, but a tooth problem saw him off the scene just as quickly as he leapt on it.
The subsequent treatment and layoff repaid rich dividends when Connor rolled up to the Top End in 2007 and Jade City came to play, setting new Bay track-records over 1200m and 1300m before tackling that year's Palmerston Sprint.
Jade City hadn't started for a month, but never gave his rivals a look-in with a breathtaking and awe-inspiring display under eminent jockey Paul Shiers which ended Connor's 27-year feature drought.
Showing that performance was no fluke, Jade City, Connor and Shiers reunited to go back-to-back last year in a performance no-one who was at Fannie Bay would forget.
Jade City - who had not raced since the previous Palmerston - looked in trouble at the halfway stage but, lifted by Shiers, gunned down his fellow Centralian Periduki within the shadows of the post.
Sadly, less than four months later, the brilliant galloper - hailed as the "people's champion" - was dead after suffering a blockage of his bowel caused by colic.
While understandably shattered, Connor knew he had to find a new Palmerston contender and hit the mark with a Western Australian sprinter named Far Horizons.
The five-year-old had rubbed shoulders with the likes of Scenic Blast, Danny Beau and Dark Target in Perth, but a bid from Connor was enough to secure the son of Scenic.
"We paid $50,000 for him and thought 'oh yeah he could measure up looking at his form', but he's been better than expectations," Connor said. "When I saw him gallop I thought 'oh geez' and when (jockey) Ben (Cornell) rode him down home he said to me 'this horse can gallop'."
Connor admitted Far Horizons was "about 70 per cent" when he ran sixth behind Lucid Reflection in this year's Pioneer Sprint just weeks after arriving in Alice Springs.
But with time on his side, Connor set about the task of trying to become the first trainer to win three consecutive Palmerston Sprints.
Two trials tuned Far Horizons up for his Top End debut - and what a debut it was - the talented sprinter scored a thumping 3 1/2 length win in the City of Darwin WFA Plate (1200m) on July 18. Such was the ease of Far Horizons' performance that talk quickly shifted after the race to talk about Connor and Shiers making it a Palmerston hat-trick.
"I don't think anybody's ever won three Palmerston Sprints - let alone three in a row," Connor said.
"It's something you dream about.
"To win again with Paul would be something very special because this is the time of year you look forward to."
Asked to compare Far Horizons to Jade City, Connor remarked: "Jade City was a great horse. This horse is a great horse too, but for him it's the beginning.
"If he wins Saturday I'll probably take him down to Adelaide for the Christmas Handicap.
"Jade City was a big lanky, raw-boned type of horse, whereas this bloke is beautifully compact, well put together and long in the barrel.
"If you had to buy a horse off a production line, he's the type you want because his body is correct in every manner."
Just like Jade City in the past couple of years, Far Horizons will start a warm favourite and last night was a $2.70 clear top pick with leading bookmaker Sportingbet.
Connor has studiously observed Far Horizons' work during the Palmerston build-up this week and with one glimpse of his trusty yellow stop-watch on that sunny July morning, he knows his new stable star is ready.
Ready to create history and etch his 79-year-old trainer and eminent jockey in the record books.
GREGOR MACTAGGART
July 31st, 2009
IT'S 8am on a typically brilliant Darwin dry season morning in July marked by the sun rising regally over Fannie Bay racecourse.
Most of the Top End's population is getting ready for the day ahead, but Nev Connor has already been up for a few hours preparing for the biggest week of his year.
The veteran Alice Springs trainer, who is closing in on 80 years of age, may be short in stature, but he is a giant of Territory horse racing.
Every year for the past three decades, Connor and his wife Bonnie have trekked north to the Top End in search of Darwin Cup Carnival glory.
While he tasted regular success - most notably in the 1995 Darwin Guineas with Jucent - the affable horseman couldn't quite crack it in the Territory's two premier races.
The Darwin Cup (2000m) is known around Australia, while the Palmerston Sprint (1200m) has a time-honoured history as the Territory's richest dash.
But in living proof of the old adage "good things come to those who wait", Connor's time did eventually come, thanks to a mercurial speedster named Jade City.
Bought for a modest four-figure sum from the late Bruce McLachlan in Queensland, Jade City changed Connor's life.
In his first start for Connor, he won a 1300m Class 3 at Fannie Bay by 10 lengths in July 2006, but a tooth problem saw him off the scene just as quickly as he leapt on it.
The subsequent treatment and layoff repaid rich dividends when Connor rolled up to the Top End in 2007 and Jade City came to play, setting new Bay track-records over 1200m and 1300m before tackling that year's Palmerston Sprint.
Jade City hadn't started for a month, but never gave his rivals a look-in with a breathtaking and awe-inspiring display under eminent jockey Paul Shiers which ended Connor's 27-year feature drought.
Showing that performance was no fluke, Jade City, Connor and Shiers reunited to go back-to-back last year in a performance no-one who was at Fannie Bay would forget.
Jade City - who had not raced since the previous Palmerston - looked in trouble at the halfway stage but, lifted by Shiers, gunned down his fellow Centralian Periduki within the shadows of the post.
Sadly, less than four months later, the brilliant galloper - hailed as the "people's champion" - was dead after suffering a blockage of his bowel caused by colic.
While understandably shattered, Connor knew he had to find a new Palmerston contender and hit the mark with a Western Australian sprinter named Far Horizons.
The five-year-old had rubbed shoulders with the likes of Scenic Blast, Danny Beau and Dark Target in Perth, but a bid from Connor was enough to secure the son of Scenic.
"We paid $50,000 for him and thought 'oh yeah he could measure up looking at his form', but he's been better than expectations," Connor said. "When I saw him gallop I thought 'oh geez' and when (jockey) Ben (Cornell) rode him down home he said to me 'this horse can gallop'."
Connor admitted Far Horizons was "about 70 per cent" when he ran sixth behind Lucid Reflection in this year's Pioneer Sprint just weeks after arriving in Alice Springs.
But with time on his side, Connor set about the task of trying to become the first trainer to win three consecutive Palmerston Sprints.
Two trials tuned Far Horizons up for his Top End debut - and what a debut it was - the talented sprinter scored a thumping 3 1/2 length win in the City of Darwin WFA Plate (1200m) on July 18. Such was the ease of Far Horizons' performance that talk quickly shifted after the race to talk about Connor and Shiers making it a Palmerston hat-trick.
"I don't think anybody's ever won three Palmerston Sprints - let alone three in a row," Connor said.
"It's something you dream about.
"To win again with Paul would be something very special because this is the time of year you look forward to."
Asked to compare Far Horizons to Jade City, Connor remarked: "Jade City was a great horse. This horse is a great horse too, but for him it's the beginning.
"If he wins Saturday I'll probably take him down to Adelaide for the Christmas Handicap.
"Jade City was a big lanky, raw-boned type of horse, whereas this bloke is beautifully compact, well put together and long in the barrel.
"If you had to buy a horse off a production line, he's the type you want because his body is correct in every manner."
Just like Jade City in the past couple of years, Far Horizons will start a warm favourite and last night was a $2.70 clear top pick with leading bookmaker Sportingbet.
Connor has studiously observed Far Horizons' work during the Palmerston build-up this week and with one glimpse of his trusty yellow stop-watch on that sunny July morning, he knows his new stable star is ready.
Ready to create history and etch his 79-year-old trainer and eminent jockey in the record books.
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