Aston Barak defied the odds to lead all the way and take out today’s inaugural running of the GRNSW Southern Stars Series in Goulburn, with the Jason Fletcher-trained runner pocketing $50,000 in the process.
The chat in many chasing circles during the week was about the prospects of the record-breaking Paua Of BUDDY as well as high flying runners Goods Odds Cash and Gatlin but it was the softly spoken Fletcher who let his dog do the talking on race day, upstaging the three main fancies to take out the feature race in a personal best time of 24.38.
“I was reasonably confident, he’s a very good dog on his day and he did well today. He got the start perfect and had a beautiful clear run on the outside while the inside dogs were banging and clanging and so he was just lucky with the draw today,” Fletcher said.
2022 Vic Peters Classic winner Gatlin was the only danger to Aston Barak once the field hit the Goulburn straight, but the son of G1 place getter Fantastic Skye was able to fend off the challenge to claim his biggest career race win.
Victorian rising star Paua Of BUDDY finished third while the Frank Hurst-trained Good Odds Cash crossed the line in fourth, both more than four lengths in arrears of the winner.
The sense of occasion not lost on Fletcher, with the Falls Creek local admitting a race like this was only a pipedream for the Goulburn club several years ago.
“It would have been hard to believe this could happen at Goulburn a few years ago. It’s enormous how the industry has progressed and hopefully it just keeps going upwards and onwards,” Fletcher said.
Aston Barak has now won over $130,000 following his twentieth win in 45 career starts, with Fletcher undecided on where his charge will line up in next month’s TAB Million Dollar Chase heats.
“Haven’t given it a thought yet, just been preparing him for today and we’ll see what happens next week,” Fletcher said.
