Clarken Racing | Clarken Racing News 57427 Clarken Oshea Stable Races To Title Lead With Gawler Treble

Will Clarken and Niki O'Shea have been in sensational form and they parlayed that into a treble at Gawler on Saturday, taking the lead in the metro premiership in the process.

The performances of Cullen Skink, Second To Nun and Toast The Deel gave the training combination six victories from their past 10 runners, pushing them to 19 in the city for the campaign, two clear of Phillip Stokes, who also had a double at Gawler, and three in front of reigning premiers Richard and Chantelle Jolly.

While Clarken doesn't think they have the ammunition to maintain their lead for the rest of the season, there is no doubt the stable is going well, striking at just over 22 per cent.

"There's a long way to go and we won't have enough horses to be able to win the premiership, weight of numbers will sort us out, but the horses are going really well at the moment," he said.

"We're just training every horse as they come and at the moment we're seeing them well. The horses are hard and fit and the horses that have taken a bit of time are coming into their own now."

Apprentice Rochelle Milnes secured the first metropolitan win of her young career, taking a narrow gap along the rail to guide Second To Nun to a second win in six days.

"She's a good young rider and I'm sure come winter she'll be riding winners every Saturday," Clarken said.

"(Second To Nun) fell on her feet today with the wet weather, she really enjoyed that.

"She needed a bit of hardening up and I think we'll back off her now. She's had a good prep."

The exciting Cullen Skink continued his red-hot form, securing a hat-trick of victories with a come-from-behind effort in the fourth race for Ben Price.

He's now won four of his seven starts and Clarken is ready to raise the bar again.

"I think we'll aim him up at a Port Lincoln Cup, it's worth $70,000 this year plus the Racing Rewards, so it looks like a nice race for him," he said.

"There's a bit of time between now and then but he looks like a progressive horse.

"We really liked the horse but he went missing for a little while. It was just maturity but he's been faultless this time in. He's getting bigger and better and stronger and is handling his racing."

Toast The Deel finished the Clarken-O'Shea triple with Pannell completed a double of his own.

Story from Racenet (Tom Biddington)