Eight electrifying dogs. Seven super trainers. Friday night lights and $40,000 up for grabs. Here’s our runner-by-runner preview of the 2024 Ladbrokes Cyril Rowe Bulli Gold Cup Final (472m):
Gets the gun draw but he’ll need as much luck as the last Powerball winner if he’s to take this out. Last three winners of the race have all broken 26 seconds and his PB is a few lengths behind these at their best. Biggest thing in his favour is his record off the cherry (11: 4-3-3) and with so much early pace littered throughout the field, it’s hard not to see how the rail won’t be the most advantageous place to be when push comes to shove. Very honest customer with 41 cheques in 63 starts and deserves another crack at a feature final after solid efforts in the 2023 Maitland Cup, Nowra Puppy Classic and New Sensation.
The Hellmuth’s get another crack at the big Bulli feature after disaster struck in the 2017 final when pre-race favourite, Bear’s Gold, broke a muzzle on the way to the boxes. They’ll be hoping Swindled can make the most of Box 2 after bullocking his way into the final, and it’s hard not to see him improving after a luckless heat effort. He can be slow away, so the biggest query is: can he overrun so many classy 520m dogs if he trails them into the home straight? His recent form in Victoria has been hard to knock though after five straight wins to finish 2023 preceded a recent third behind Australian Cup heat winner Pass The Buck. The kennel also has winning form on the NSW South Coast after winning the Dapto Megastar in 2013 with Peter Rocket.
Swindled is trying to emulate fellow Victorian, Panadero Warrior, who won the race last year
‘The Cob’ never saw the best part of the track in his heat and it was brave effort to be two and three wide the trip and still fend off an avalanche of late pressure. Got turned sideways a bit at the top of the straight last week which cost him a length or so in his pursuit of Comet A Cost, but he’ll need to make up a few more if he’s to claim his second Gold Cup of the year (Gosford winner last month). Box 3 gives him an advantage over his main rivals and as long as Zipping Megatron doesn’t get across him in the early stages, he’s got the power and strength to punch underneath the speedy types drawn outside him. I reckon the youngest dog in the final field is primed for another big performance and he should almost be back to peak race condition, physically and mentally, after falling in the Derby final in January. Only missed the frame twice in 20 career starts.
This bloke could be anything. Returned in the heats after more than three months off and not only did he knock off G1 Paws Of Thunder placegetter Nangar Larry, G1 National Derby winner History’s Coming and Million Dollar Chase finalist Has Ability, he went within half a length of the track record of 25.78 as well (held by Aston Dee Bee and Mowski Star). Jason Magri said he was trialling the house down in the lead up to the preliminaries and you’d imagine the 2023 MDC Maiden winner only has better to come considering he’s had just six race starts. He’s the second youngest dog in the final field and Box 4 isn’t easy, but maybe Zipping Remus will provide some cover for him in the run to the bend. He’s an exciting prospect and NSW is crying out for a dog like him to emerge as our next sprinting superstar.
Zipping Remus had the greyhound world at his paws after winning the Vic Peters Classic in July last year but a series of injury setbacks and bad luck in running haven’t seen him quite reach the heights many were predicting. Mid year efforts of 29.33 at Wenty Park and then 24.26 at Goulburn (Wow’s track record is 24.18) had him primed for a massive back end of 2023, but sadly, it wasn’t to be. Looks to have returned from a three-month break OK but hasn’t been busting the clock like we know he can. A third placing in the QLD Derby last month behind Morton reads well but this edition of the Bulli Gold Cup is stacked with quality. He also has to overcome the squeeze box and only has the solitary race win since September.
“Another feather in the cap” is how trainer Joe McFadyen described Nangar Jim’s qualification for the Bulli Gold Cup final, and it comes after a memorable few months for the son of Aston Dee Bee. His only three unplaced runs since joining the kennel came in a heat of the G2 Black Top, a heat of the G1 National Derby and the final of the G2 Gosford Cup, and he has recently won the Maitland Cup and finished runner up in the Goulburn Cup as well. I think it’s fair to say he puts in his best performances around one bend (10 of his 13 wins have come at Maitland, Bulli and Grafton) and he certainly prefers a wide draw over the inside. Nangar Jim has the early speed to be a factor in this race but just how much pressure will he cop from Nangar Larry and Comet A Cost in the run to the first turn?
The Zipping Megatron heat form looks the testing material and ‘Larry’ never shirked his task when a game second to the young phenom last week. His preliminary time of 25.93 would have won all but one of the last 10 Bulli Gold Cup finals and he’s really rounded into a reliable free-for-all greyhound for Team Lord. Like Nangar Jim boxed inside him, he seems to prefer wider draws so Box 7 should help him find plenty of room to move on the expansive Bulli circuit, and he’s only missed the frame once in his last 10 runs in top company. He’ll contest his sixth feature final in start number 35 and after running third in last month’s G1 Paws Of Thunder decider, he’s in career best form.
Heck of a story unfolding for a dog Jason Magri doubted would ever race again, let alone make back-to-back feature finals. The heat win was super, and it was setup off the back of a flying getaway from the red that gave nothing else a look in. The time of 25.88 made him the second fastest for Friday’s decider and although he’s drawn off the track, he could be the beneficiary of any bumping and grinding that goes on inside. He will jump as the oldest finalist in the field and amazingly, he has the least amount of starts (outside Zipping Megatron) next to his name. Needs to follow Larry and Jim into the race and if he can do that and pull off a victory, it would be a massive training performance.
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