Rocky Cup winner ‘Hype’ looks on target to complete a historic double in Mackay.

Rockhampton Cup winner Hype will strive to win a Northern Winter Carnival Cups double on Saturday in Mackay, and South Aussie jockey Teagan Voorham will again be in the saddle.
Tasmanian horseman Aiden Nunn confirmed today that he will leave his Beaudesert training base on Friday morning to travel north up the Bruce Highway to Rockhampton where Hype will be stabled overnight at Callaghan Park. On Saturday morning Hype will be back on the float for the second leg of the trek to Ooralea for the $150,000 Mackay Cup (2000m).
 “What’s that weather doing up there?” Nunn asked. “Hopefully, everything will fall into place again, and there is no rain to spoil our plans.”
With the Mackay forecast not showing rainfall until Sunday, Hype is on target to complete a historic double.
Before Hype, no horse who started its career in Ireland, no horse trained in Tasmania, and no South Australian-based jockey had ever won a Rockhampton Cup. It’s pretty safe to assume the statistics would be the same for the Mackay Cup.
A duffer on wet tracks Hype, who began his career four years ago in Ireland’s County Kildare racing against Group 1 horses including Yulong Stud’s Irish stallion Lucky Vega, produced the race of his life to win last month’s TAB Rockhampton Cup (1600m) at Callaghan Park. It was a beautiful tactical ride by Voorham with Hype coming from last place on the home turn, taking full advantage of the long Rocky straight to win comfortably. “I wish the Mackay Cup was being run in Rocky, he loved it there,” Nunn said. “Mackay has a shorter run home, and they seem to fan wide, so a bit of luck will need to come into play for us, that said he was quite sharp over six furlongs at Ipswich before heading to Rockhampton, and the 2000m in Mackay should be up his alley,” Nunn said.
Earlier this year, Hype placed second in the Devonport Cup (1880m) but has yet to be tried beyond that distance. With a handicap of 56kgs in Saturday’s Mackay Cup, 4 kilograms less than topweight Warp Speed, Hype appears well-weighted.
A 7YO gelding by Siyouni from Galileo mare Eavesdrop, Hype put on bodyweight after his Rocky win, forcing Nunn to step up the galloper’s work to trim the fat. “His condition is spot on now, but like many European-bred horses he does well out of competition – they are renowned for winning first-up over a mile or further,” he said.
Former Tassie jockey Voorham, who continues to kick goals on tracks in SA, asked Nunn straight after the Rockhampton success what plans he had for the gelding.
“As soon as I said another Cup, she booked herself for the ride,” Nunn said. A professional polo player, Nunn plans to send Hype for a break after Mackay, then get him ready for Tasmania’s Summer Carnival.
“I’ll leave Beaudesert at the end of September and go to Sydney for a couple of months to play polo, then get my racehorses ready for Tassie’s carnival,” Nunn said. “I think Teagan may come home to ride during summer as well. – David Aldred.