Shima Shine sizzles
The field is set for the 2021 Warragul Cup on Saturday night, after six heats were contested over the weekend.
This year, due to COVID restrictions the Warragul Cup is an adults only event, with 300 patrons allowed onsite and is a ticketed event only.
Aeroplane Eric, Aston Gwen, Catch The Thief, Amarillo Highway, Zipping Zarbo, Shima Shine, Dream Wizard, Equalizer, Jax Bale and Out of Sprite will all be out to claim the cup this year and after the heats, it looks likely to be a closely fought race, with Shima Shine going in favourite.
There wasn’t one ‘easy beat’ contesting the six Warragul Cup heats at Logan Park, which kicked off the middle leg of Gippsland’s triple-tiered Festival of Racing.
The Warragul GRC staged a provincial showcase on Friday night and not surprisingly, the cream rose to the top. It’s said that records are made to be broken and superstar Shima Shine did just that in Heat 3.
Trained in Anakie by Andrea Dailly, Shima Shine ($1.90F) smashed the track record with a believe-it-or-not sizzling 25.19sec display of unadulterated speed. His winning time carved 2.5 lengths off the previous mark of 25.34sec, set by 2018 Warragul Cup winner Aston Dee Bee on December 6, 2016.
Contesting his first start since the Group 1 Melbourne Cup final in late November, the G1 Topgun winner recorded his third win from four starts at Warragul. Incredibly, it was his eighth win in 10 starts from Box 8. He was TAB’s $4 favourite to take out the $47,000-tothe-winner Warragul Cup series and has now firmed into $1.75 favouritism in this Saturday night’s final.
Freakish young talent Equalizer, a younger half-brother of retired G1 sprint queen Black Opium, staged a herculean effort in Heat 2.
A conspicuous last from the traps, the Jason Thompson-trained star of the future ran into a couple of ‘ dead-ends’ before miraculously scoring in 25.50sec.
A finalist in last week’s G1 Silver Chief, Equalizer notched his fourth win from seven starts over Warragul’s 460m trip.
Paua of Oscar (trained by Buln Buln’ Steve White) missed out in Heat 2, finishing fifth as Equalizer blitzed the field.
Ultra-consistent speedster Zipping Zarbo narrowly defeated the ‘ Face of Gippsland’, Catch The Thief in Heat 6.
Prepared at Lara by Deb Coleman, Zipping Zarbo accounted for the “Briagolong Bullet” by 0.27 lengths in 25.57sec. It was her 19th win from 39 starts.
Shockwaves reverberated around Heat 5 when Simon Told Helen, the nation’s number one sprinter, four-time G1 winner and Australian Greyhound of the Year, finished fifth.
The race went to the highly underrated Amarillo Highway, trained by Glenn Rounds of Devon Meadows, who saluted in 25.59sec. It was his fourth win from six starts over Warragul’s 460m trip.
Meanwhile, the Benjamin Magri trained Aston Gwen made it four straight wins, clocking 25.65sec in Heat 1. At her previous start, she won the G2 Laurels Classic and Dream Wizard cast a winning spell in Heat 4. Also trained at Devon Meadows by Sean Lithgow, Dream Wizard clocked a creditable 25.67sec.
A recent finalist in the G2 Ballarat Cup, Dream Wizard notched his 14th win from 35 starts.
Extensive coverage of Saturday night’s Group 2 Warragul Cup will be broadcast live from 7pm on Greyhound Racing Victoria’s Facebook Page or via The Watchdog app.