Jet power snares Gold Cup
LOCAL star Weblec Jet was jet-propelled in Friday night’s Group 2 Geelong Gold Cup final (520m).
In a race where all eight finalists were from the Geelong region, Weblec Jet, trained at Anakie by Jeff Britton, clocked a near-record 29.54sec.
His time was only .02sec off the 29.52sec track record set by Fernando Express — trained by Britton’s older brother Rob — on July 27, 2018.
Jumping brilliantly from box 4, Weblec Jet ($3 fav) left his rivals in a jet stream, defeating country cups king Yozo Bale ($4) by four lengths, with reserve runner Sweet As Emm ($8.90), a finalist last year, a further 1.25 lengths away third.
Weblec Jet turned the tables on Yozo Bale, who narrowly defeated him in the Ballarat Cup Consolation (450m) two weeks ago.
It was his ninth win from 27 starts and the $50,000 first prize catapulted his stakes to $107,695.
Weblec Jet was a finalist in this year’s G1 National Derby at Wentworth Park in Sydney and last year finished second in the G3 Warragul St Leger and was a finalist in the G3 Cranbourne Classic.
“He couldn’t quite get to Yozo Bale at Ballarat, but I thought the 520m would help him better,” Britton said.
It was a big night for the Britton family as Jeff’s nephew and Rob’s son Tim, 31, had the better of his uncle in the Cup Night Match Race (520m) — dubbed the “Battle of Britton”.
Based at Lara, Tim’s rising star Utah Express ($1.80) snared the $10,000 winnertakes-all race by 1.2 lengths over Jeff’s Mepunga Warrior ($1.60 fav) in a flying 29.63sec.
His ninth win from 23 starts took his stakes to $47,645.
The other support feature, the GRV Vic Bred Distance Series final (680m), was won by the Angela Langton-trained Suntory Rose.