Tom and Jerry. Batman and Robin. Maverick and Goose. Thelma and Louise. TV and cinema history is littered with iconic pairings that just wouldn't seem right without one or the other.
In the greyhound caper, you’d be hard pressed to find a better bond in recent times than the one that exists between the Matic kennel and the Ladbrokes Bulli Gold Cup.
When Ruth and Danielle Matic rug up 2023 finalist Len Me Dad on Sunday evening, it will be the mother-daughter duo’s eleventh runner in the feature final since 2005.
And although they wish they had a few more winners to their name – it’s still a record worth savouring.
“We’ve always loved racing at Bulli, a lot of our dogs go around there and whenever this race comes up, we’re more than happy to throw them in if we think they’re good enough,” Ruth Matic said.
And a roll through the record books suggests they have had their fair share of fancies.
“Early on we had a few goes at it and couldn’t quite find the winner. Go Wild Dolphin ran in the race in 2005, he was owned by the rugby boys who were involved in the Bali bombings. Then we had the brothers, Patrick Dudley and Hurricane Luke, who finished behind Goodesy in 2010,” Ruth Matic said.
“Persian Spy had a go [and finished sixth behind Proven Diego in 2009], then we had a bit of time before Black Bear Lee won. And the thing that tends to happen in this game is, when you win a big race, you always want to do it again, so here we are,” Ruth Matic said.
The three-quarter brother to 2022 Bulli Gold Cup runner-up Wow is the youngest in the field of eight, and although he’s giving away a fair bit of race day experience too, he’s in a camp that knows a thing or two about preparing their boys for big Bulli finals.
“The plan was always to get him ready for this race but he hurt a toe about a month ago so we did ‘umm and ahh’ a bit about whether he would be ready,” Ruth Matic said.
“But we just love this race so we pushed him along. We were a bit unsure how fit he was first up, but he’s made it through and he’ll only improve off that run into the final,” she added.
Len Me Dad ran second in his heat, finishing 3.75 lengths in arrears of Victoria visitor and likely final favourite Panadero Warrior.
The run his first in almost a month, and his sixth minor placing to go with seven wins from just 14 career starts.
“He’s a good dog and he’s got a chance in the final after the box draw. I think the inside dogs don’t have a huge amount of pace so if he can get to the fence from Box 4 and lead, he’ll be stronger to the line than last week,” Ruth Matic said.
“I could be wrong but I think he had the fastest first section in the heats which was promising, and he’s gone 26.06 at Bulli, so time wise, he’s right in the race,” she said.
And while Team Matic is just happy to already have such a young dog in a Group 2 feature final, a win on Sunday would further enhance the credentials of Len Me Dad’s litter by Fernando Bale out of Winxette.
“The litter is really good. We saw what Wyndra All Class did earlier this year in the Group 1 Futurity and their other brother Peace Keeper is with us too and he’s gone 25.96 at Bulli. There’s only five of the six on the ground now but three are very fast and hopefully they can keep having some success,” Ruth Matic said.
The Anthony Godden-trained Trunkey John qualified fastest for Sunday's final in a time of 26.01.
The Ladbrokes Cyril Rowe Bulli Gold Cup was first run as a Group 2 feature race in 2015 but before that it was a Group 3 event that commenced in 1996.
