DESERT LORD TOPS THE BETTING BOARDS FOR THE SUNSHINE COAST CUP

By Graham Potter | Thursday, January 27, 2022

The current Sunshine Coast Cup race favourite Desert Lord will come into Saturday’s contest first-up after a four-month layoff with his place on the betting boards owing as much to trainer David Vandyke’s expertise of priming his horses for the individual task he sets them as to the actual form-line of the son of High Chaparral.

Not that there is anything wrong with Desert Lord’s performance record, particularly since he relocated to the Vandyke stable.

That was back in mid-2020 when Desert Lord moved from the Team Hawkes yard to Vandyke, bringing with him a record of four wins from eighteen starts. The seven-year-old has now doubled that number of wins after only a further nine starts for Vandyke.

Desert Lord’s wins for his current stable include a victory in the Listed Goldmarket at the Gold Coast in August, and he also claimed two eye-catching feature race placings in the Glasshouse (when third to King Of Hastings over this Saturday’s track and distance in July) and in the Weetwood (when second to the very useful Apache Chase at Toowoomba in September).

The fact that Desert Lord has not raced since that Weetwood outing could still remain a point of debate though, but off-setting that concern to a marked degree is the fact that Desert Lord has won three out of four times when first-up for Vandyke suggesting the trainer knows how to set up his horse for the best chance of success.

Desert Lord has had three trials in the build-up to Saturday’s race … on December 7 and 30 and January 18 … without setting the world alight.

Again though, it should be noted that Desert Lord has only won one out of nine trials since joining the Vandyke stable so arguably he is an example of a horse that keeps his best for race-day.

Desert Lord’s price is currently quoted at $3.95 for the Sunshine Coast Cup. The Harrovian is at $4.20. East Asia is at $5. These three are the only runners quoted in single figures.