Just 15 minutes after his brother Wow showed those south of the Murray what he is capable of, and in doing so laid claim for the title of the best sprinter in the country in winning the Group 1 Temlee at The Meadows, Ad Astra gave trainer Karina Britton undoubtedly the most memorable night of her life, winning his heat of the Cyril Rowe Bulli Gold Cup, and qualifying for next Saturday’s Group 2 final.
Wow was originally headed to Bulli with his brother for the Cup, but Britton decided that the invitation to The Temlee was too good to refuse so she headed south and Wow defeated the likes of seasoned sprint stars Shima Shine, Tommy Shelby and Tiggerlong Tonk to claim the $100,000 first prizemoney.
In his absence, Ad Astra flew the flag for his brother and his trainer with an all the way victory in the opening heat of the Cup, posting 26.11s in comfortably holding off Jax Kade in the run home.
And Ad Astra will have every chance of adding another feature to the family’s resume having come up with box 1 for the final.
But the performance of the heats was from the Peter Lagogiane-trained Barcia Blue Boy, who speared out of the boxes running 9.75s to the first marker, then kept going, clocking a sizzling 25.90s. The only time that time has been bettered in recent times was when Shima Shine clocked 25.82s and then 25.87s in the heat and final of the Bulli Million Dollar Chase Regional series last September. Even Wow clocked 25.97s in finishing second to Shima Shine in the heat.
The Bulli 472m track record stands at 25.78s set by the brilliant Aston Dee Bee back in April 2017.
Lagogiane, who has won two of the three Million Dollar Chase finals, as well as numerous big feature races, has always had a big opinion of Barcia Blue Boy, but the dog has been plagued by injuries, and only this week the trainer described him as being “on three legs.”
The win was Barcia Blue Boy’s seventh from just a 10 starts career, with three placings from the other three non-winning performances.
Second and a spot in the final went to a courageous Ebby Infrared who clocked 26.06s, the third fastest of the eight qualifiers.
The second quickest, just half a length behind Barcia Blue Boy’s time was the Ruth Matic-trained Poppy Jack who clocked 9.77s early then kept going too posting 25.94s in an impressive victory, his sixth win in succession.
Poppy Jack has now won 16 of his 25 starts, but won’t get things as easy in the final. He jumped from the two in his heat, but will have plenty of speed to get across having drawn box six in the final.
Victorian Squiggle Keeping tried valiantly to pick up the winner, but was 2¾ lengths behind on the line, albeit still good enough to qualify for the $40,000 to the winner final next Saturday night.
In the other heat, MATTHEW Gooden’s consistent performer Trunkey Rose made it three wins in a row and 10 wins from 17 starts with a tenacious victory in 26.35s, being headed out of the back but forging to the lead in the home straight and racing away from an impressive win. Second and a final berth went to the Steve Burgis-trained Sea Dodging.
