He claimed the richest TAB event ever staged at the track, now Aston Barak is poised to add another special Goulburn win to his career resume after a brilliant display in the heats of the Ladbrokes Goulburn Cup on Friday.
The Jason Fletcher-trained speedster claimed the inaugural $50,000 to-the-winner GRNSW Southern Stars final at Goulburn back in July, and despite a blustery wind sweeping the Goulburn track on Friday, he was still able to clock a slick 24.49s to be easily the fastest of the four heat winners.
To put the 5¾ length win into some context, fellow heat winning trainer - and local - John Mellon declared the wind was adding around a three tenths of a second to times. When you do the maths it makes the 24.49s phenomenal and not far off the 24.18s track record of star sprinter and dual Goulburn Cup winner Wow.
Jumping brilliantly from box two Aston Barak gave his rivals no chance of catching him, and the win took his Goulburn record to seven wins from nine starts over the 440m trip.
“He got the start right and went really well,” Fletcher said.
Asked why Aston Barak had a love affair with Goulburn, Fletcher said: “He's got a good run to the first corner and he gets some high speed up, whereas at the tight tracks it’s only a five second run to the corner and he has been drawing off the track and it's hard to get across really good dogs.”
TAB Million Dollar Chase finalist and Group 1 winner Gatlin ran into second place on the home turn and looked set to qualify for the final, but a late surge from Mowski Star saw that dog grab second and meant Gatlin missed the final.
In the opening heat of the Cup, a late surge from former track record holder Mellcat Big Boy saw him just edge out Yuko Girl by a nose.
The Sam Sultana-trained Yuko Girl was brilliant from the boxes and clocked a stunning 5.45s early, just 0.02s outside the first section record set by Ad Astra in the 2020 Goulburn Cup final.
“To run down a bitch like that is exceptional, I reckon, she was high balling in front, and he had got turned sideways out of the boxes. What do you say? He just keeps amazing me this dog,” said trainer John Mellon. “I just love him. I just love him.
“I reckon this is a three tenth (of a second) wind today, so whatever they're running, you can really take three tenths off it.”
It was also a barnstorming finish in the final heat of the Cup with the Neil Staines-trained Wiradjuri Jack charging home along the rails to grab the victory in 25.01s, from another fast finisher, Father Rick.
Father Rick won the Fireball final for the shortcourse sprinters on Cup day last year, but has been stepped up in distance since then and is a live chance in the final.
“He's a good hard Chaser and he stayed on the fence and kept coming and we got the bickies so we’ll go around next week now,” Staines said of the performance of Wiradjuri Jack.
“He's matured the way I was hoping he was going to and he can only improve.”
Central West teenager Jay Opetaia continues to make impressions in the sport and will have a group finalist next Friday after Agland Luai scored an impressive 24.68s win in his heat.
Agland Luai had 5¼ lengths to spare over Victorian Ferdinand Boy who produced a strong effort after a slow start to run home and qualify for the final.
The Cup qualification comes on the back of Agland Luai reaching the final of the TAB Million Dollar Chase last month and finishing a creditable fourth behind McInerney at Wentworth Park.
“It’s been a terrific month for him,” Opetaia said. “He’s grown up a little bit now and is putting it all together.
“He’s always had the ability but he’s matured and is putting it together on the track now.”
The Goulburn Cup will be supported by the final of the Fireball over the 350m next Friday with Apollo Speed the fastest of the five heat winners.
The Lisa Worthy-trained sprinter clocked 19.86s in just holding off Lime Rock Park in the opening heat of the event. Worthy also won the final heat on the program with Special Star winning in 19.97s.
