Hosking's Dream Darwin Cup Triumph

TRAINER Jamie Hosking's dream of winning a Darwin Cup became a reality on Sunday night with Eagle Monelli securing the Group 3 feature in commanding fashion.

Before moving to Queensland in 2018, Hosking was Darwin's most successful trainer, but eluding his string of successes was a Darwin Cup trophy on the mantelpiece.

"It doesn't get much better than that, I can now tick it off the bucket list, just an amazing night," Hosking beamed. 

"To win my hometown cup in front of a big crowd with so many friends and family there was very special. 

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

Jamie Hoskins' Eagle Monelli goes whooshka in the Darwin Cup. Magnificent ?? pic.twitter.com/smB2xdYHPK

— MintBet (@Mintbet) August 6, 2023

Eagle Monelli's thumping Darwin Cup success in 31.26s took the son of Keybow's record to 19 wins from 44 starts, the $25,000 first prize taking his stake earnings past the $100,000 mark.

But it's only been for his past five appearances the talented chaser has been with Hosking after launching his career with Steve Withers in Perth.

"Steve had a lot of pups coming through and the opportunity came up to buy him earlier in the year," Hosking said.

"Adam Poulter is in the syndicate that owns him so when we got him the Darwin Cup was always in the back of our mind but he's 3 ½ with a few little injuries so we didn't plan too far ahead.

"The dog's done a great job because he'd only had the couple of 400m starts back home before coming up to Darwin.

"He did a bit wrong in his heat but still qualified and even though he uses a bit of the track I was happy to see him draw the red for the final.

"He came out great and his sections were as good as they've seen there."

On the line, Eagle Monelli scored by 3 ½ lengths over Omar Monelli with another Hosking runner, Pebble's Girl, running an eye-catching third, a further 1 ½ lengths away.

Hosking will now look toward the fast approaching Townsville Cup with his newly minted Darwin Cup winner.

"I'll see how he gets home and make a call from there," Hosking said.

"To come up here isn't an easy task and he is 3 ½ with a few niggling injuries that we have to stay on top on. But if he's right then Townsville is an option."