Adelaide gelding Saturday Sorcerer has held off all challengers to win the $200,000 Darwin Cup.

Trained by Stuart Gower, Saturday Sorcerer was steered over from a wide gate by Paul Denton to take control early in the 2000m race with Cantonese joining him at the head of affairs.

The two were some lengths in front of the pack rounding the home turn but Saturday Sorcerer had the measure of Cantonese as they set sail for home.

Pretty Blonde and Lightinthenite launched their bids late but Denton's local knowledge came to the fore and Saturday Sorcerer held on for a narrow win.

He had a margin of a neck over Pretty Blonde who edged Lightinthenite out of second by a short half head with Cantonese fourth.

"You have got to know the dirt tracks and I don't mind riding against them here," Denton said.

Gower said Denton's ride was the key. The Darwin Hall of Fame jockey rode Saturday Sorcerer to third in a 1600m race on July 16 and the horse earned his place in the field with victory in the Metric Mile 10 days later.

"The horse has just peaked and he loves Darwin and Paul has done a sensational job on him," Gower said.

"I was starting to get worried in the last 50 (metres). He's gone that hard and he's just hung on, it was a super run.

"He's more of a 2000-metre horse and I think he's still immature.

"Maybe next year, we'll see an even better horse and hopefully we'll be back next year."

The Lightning Plate earlier in the day was named in honour of Darwin jockey Simone Montgomerie who lost her life in the race a year ago.

The 2013 Cup was cancelled with the prize money donated to a fund for Montgomerie's young daughter Kodah who was on hand for this year's meeting.

Corstons Beau won the Lightning by 1-1/4 lengths from Jacopo, a horse owned by members of the Montgomerie family.