Four winners on a six-event program would have certainly eased the pain.
Recovering from a trackwork mishap, Darwin trainer Stephen Brown quite simply dominated Day 6 of the Darwin Cup Carnival.
After winning three of the four races, Brown, 56, also nailed the feature race when $8 hope Pelican Head (Paul Denton) held off all challengers to win the $30,000 Colemans Printing Cup (1300m).
Brown injured his left shoulder on Sunday when he fell from a horse, who lost its balance and buckled after pulling up at the end of trackwork. He was due to consult a specialist on Tuesday, but that has been deferred until next week.
"The shoulder has been pretty sore these past few days, but the good news is that I don't need an operation and treatment will be determined following more X-rays next week," he said after Pelican Head's triumph.
"It's been a good day and I thought he (Pelican Head) had as much chance of winning the race as my other runner Firedrake."
Firedrake (Scott Hillebrand) started the race as the $4 favourite, but failed to fire and finished 10th.
Having already sealed the Darwin trainers premiership, Brown is now in the running to seal the Darwin Cup Carnival's trainers title as well.
Brown, who has now recorded 65 wins for the 2010/11 season, leads Gary Clarke (35) in the Darwin premiership.
With two days of the Carnival remaining, Clarke has been the premier trainer thus far with eight wins, however Brown has now joined Victorian trainer Neil Dyer in second place with six wins.
The Carnival's leading trainer will pick up $5000, while the leading jockey, who is Paul Shiers (7) at this stage, stands to win $3000.
Brown's magic day got off to a flying start when his daughter Alana piloted favourite Robson Street to victory in the Tomeout Handicap (1200m).
Emboldened made it three straight wins when Scott Hillebrand rode the three-year-old gelding to victory in the Rydges Class 6 Handicap (1100m).
After two straight thirds, The Flying Fox sealed the Quickprint Handicap (1600m) with Alana Brown in the saddle.
Top jockey Paul Denton then landed his first major winner of the Carnival when Pelican Head, who couldn't get his act together at Fannie Bay in July 2009 and 2010, finally delivered.
There were no hard luck stories in the Cup - Pelican Head was too good after enjoying an incident-free run in transit beating $4.60 hope Glasgow Jim (Paul Shiers) and $6.50 chance No Ransom (Carl Spry), who settled in front when they jumped, home.
Because of his injury, Brown was quick to thank wife Elisha for her efforts in running the show for the Brown stable yesterday.
Story courtesy of David White, NT News
