Wicket ready to reward Cairns connection in Townsville Cup

By Jordan Gerrans

Wicket’s Cairns-based cheer squad will descend on Townsville on Friday as the chaser prepares to tackle the prized Group 2 Townsville Cup.

Wicket, who has drawn the coveted box one, is raced by former South Australian trainer Robyn Mackellar.

A top trainer in SA during her career, Mackellar has retired from the training ranks in recent times and relocated north to beautiful Cairns in the Far North of Queensland.

She has entrusted her speedy chaser to Caboolture dog man Rusty Dillon.

Dillon has Wicket fit and firing for the assignment after winning his heat from the six alley in 28.49 seconds last Friday.

Handed the prestigious red rug for Friday’s decider, Mackellar won’t be missing the chance to see her chaser compete for the $75,000 on offer.

“She was here last week to see him run, she drove the four hours down from Cairns,” Dillon said.

“They're coming down again for the Final. So, hopefully the dog does the right thing and tries hard.

“She sends me pictures all the time of the new place they’ve bought with a pool and everything else in Cairns. She loves it.

“We had this friendship, so when she decided to move to Cairns, she wanted to know if I could train the dog.”

Dillon and Mackellar are old mates after staying at each other’s places over the years when they had attended the Nationals series in their respective states.

Wicket is a son of broodbitch Holy Reign, who Mackellar raced to 19 victories from more than 100 starts.

When the South Australian conditioner opted to step away from training, she handed Wicket and littermate Walking Carpet to Dillon.

At the time, Wicket was dealing with a minor wrist injury concern, but the Queensland dog man has the red brindle dog back near his absolute best ahead of Friday’s Townsville Cup.

“He hadn't raced for a few months,” he recalled.

“So, it was a matter of trying to get him back on the track again. So, it was a slow process, obviously.

“Robyn is really happy to see the dog jump, because he's always had the early speed. He can get along when he gets out. He is a big striding dog.”

Dillon, who travelled north with a team of five, was thrilled with the way Wicket performed in his first look at the Townsville track under race conditions.

“It was good to see him get out,” he said.

“He's got a lot of early speed, the dog, which helps a lot. When he comes out, he goes more or less straight.”

The Heath Ardle-prepared Ground Control set the pace with the quickest heat performance last Friday, scoring in 28.20 seconds.

Ground Control will jump from the five in the decider after winning from the three in his heat.

Dillon thinks that if Wicket can lead the field in the early exchanges, he will be tough to run down over 498 metres.

“Hopefully from the inside, he goes straight, but I think he might just take a step to the right a little bit,” he said.

“That'll make it interesting when the field comes out.

“Whoever jumps, obviously, it's going to help them, but if you don't jump there, you're in trouble.

“I think he'll lead, really. He's very reliable with his jumps. I think he'll lead and if he does, he's going to be hard to run down, unless he's got something strong behind him.

“I give him a big chance only if he jumps from the inside.

“When they get to the first turn there, it's only 20 metres. It all depends on where he is. If he's in front, that means the field's going to squeeze up unless something comes out the same as him and gets away.

“The five's got the same sectional as him. So, it's all on the jump. If he jumps like he can do and get a length clear, that will help."

Leading Townsville dog man Bradley Belford branded the field for the 2026 Townsville Cup as one of the strongest he has seen in his time in the industry.

Dillon is on the same page.

“It's a cracker,” Dillon said.

“It is really good and there's a few dogs that have speed in the race. The five goes real well early, Ground Control.”

Of the rest of his travelling party, Two Cent Tilly is already a Townsville winner during the trip and is back at the races on Friday for Dillon alongside kennelmates Diagnostic and Smooth Panther.

If Wicket was to claim the Townsville Cup, Dillon said it would be one of his best winners in his training tenure.