Last Sunday's group 2 Ladbrokes Bulli Gold Cup winner Castle Warrior will now head north for the March 14 heats of the Maitland Gold Cup, another $40,000 to the winner group 2 event.
Castle Warrior set a new race record of 25.89 winning last Sunday's 472m final, breaking the record of 25.93 set by Peter Lagogiane's Barcia Blue Boy last year.
Sunday's win gave Wilcox a well-deserved Bulli Cup victory as the trainer had Burning Fuel in Pindari Express' 2020 final while his wonderful all distance campaigner Knocka's Return finished third to the Mark Gatt-trained Gradence in 2014.
Castle Warrior also became only the third Cup winner to break 26sec, with another Mark Gatt-trained sprinter Ritza Lenny clocking 25.95 in 2018.
Castle Warrior faces a mammoth task to win at Maitland as few sprinters have attempted to land the south coast and Hunter Valley cups double.
"Castle Warrior has now broken 26sec on three occasions at Bulli, but in fairness to those previous Bulli Cup winners the track does seem to have got faster over the years,'' a modest Wilcox said.
Castle Warrior has not raced on the roomy Maitland circuit but has displayed outstanding form, not only at Bulli, but on other similar "one turn" courses like Goulburn and Temora.
At Wentworth Park, Castle Warrior has started just four times for a win and three placings but Wilcox is confident the dog will develop into a top grader there too.
"He will be much stronger when I next bring him to Wentworth Park,'' Wilcox said.
"When he won there, he clocked 29.97 which is pretty smart but he will get faster.
"In his previous Wenty races his run home time has only been around 12 seconds flat but as he matures he will get to the line better than that, and his overall figures will trim down accordingly.''
Castle Warrior's owner Glen McKinley has been enjoying a winning streak, with the Alan Proctor-trained March Legend opening his Wentworth Park account for McKinley on February 16 with an all-the-way win in a tidy 30.08.
Sam Simonetta trained Sunrise Dancer for 12 wins and 13 placings from 35 races for McKinley, but she has been retired.
"I have a Barcia Bale straw waiting for her and hopefully Sunrise Dancer will produce puppies as a result of that union,'' McKinley said.
"Mark Wilcox is also training a dog called Majestic Legend for me, and this youngster is really exciting.
"He has had five wins and six placings from just 13 starts and clocked 22.36 winning over 400m at Bulli last Sunday.''
