For the second year in succession, Lamprecht – a former resident of Tennant Creek who always supports the club’s meetings with a good number of starters – saddled up four of the five winners, and provided a jockey with a treble of wins.

Last year the lucky rider was Michael McDuff, while this time it was Darwin-based Vanessa Arnott who benefitted, guiding Sitar, Performance and Spakatak to consecutive wins in races three, four and five.

Lamprecht brought less runners to the Carlton Mid Tennant Creek Cup meeting than he normally does – just eight compared to 11 last year – but had no trouble continuing his remarkable love affair with the course.

He wasted no time in getting the ball rolling when Paul Denton kept up his unbeaten record on Expenditure in the day’s opener, the Noble’s Nob Class 1 Handicap.

Expenditure proved too strong for his stablemate Swayhere (Arnott) over the 1000m, winning by three-quarters of a-length. Pacemaker Snoop weakened to third.

Denton recalled that he had only ridden Expenditure once previously, for a win in Darwin just over 12 months ago.

Danericane, trained and co-owned by George Cooke, who races the five-year-old with his wife Denise, provided South Australian rider Ben Hoppo with a win on his first ride at Hagan Park when he got the better of the Lamprecht-trained Heza Pocket Rocket (Arnott) in the Peko Mines Class B Handicap.

Hoppo had his mount trailing the leader Takalua from the outset, and challenged hard in the home straight for a hard-fought half-length win. Takalua took third a length and a-quarter behind Heza Pocket Rocket.