Caption: Delighted connections celebrate after Blue Kermaro’s upset win in the Million Dollar Chase. (Photo: GRNSW)
NSW News with SIMON ORCHARD
AS the feature race calendar around the country continues to burst at the seams, one thing is certain about the Group 2 Maitland Gold Cup and Maitland Future Stars Maiden.
Like moths to a flame, great trainers target these races with star chasers.
Ever since the first Gold Cup was run on grass back in 2003, the race has continually churned out wonderful winners.
Elite Blue Size claimed back-to-back Gold Cups for Reg Kay in 2010 and 2011, before Oaks Road arrived in the Hunter Valley fresh off a Perth Cup triumph and duly saluted for the powerhouse Gatt kennel.
Black Magic Opal won the event in 2013 before heading to Victoria and claiming one of the sport’s greatest prizes, the Group 1 Melbourne Cup. And Paw Licking contested more than a dozen Group finals, highlighted by his win in the 2014 Gold Cup.
In 2017, Aussie Infrared claimed the Cup as part of a nine-race unbeaten streak. He’s since gone on to become one of the most successful sires in the country and since 2023, only five other greyhounds have produced more winners at stud.
In more recent times, Group 1 National Sprint champion Good Odds Cash (trained by Frank and Tracy Hurst) and multiple Group 2 winner Nangar Jim (Jo McFadyen) have both taken out the race as well, further enhancing the race’s legacy as a star attraction.
GBOTA life member and director, Gary Minter, believes only the best can win big races at Maitland, and says the circuit is a great judge of how good your greyhound is going to be.
“It’s a track that suits strong dogs and you need a dog with constitution and ability to win at Maitland, that’s why it’s produced some champions,” Minter said.
“We get dogs that go on to bigger and better things like Million Dollar Chase (MDC) finals and Melbourne cups. It’s got a long history of producing the goods and I can’t believe they ever thought of shutting it down.”
“It’s a safe racetrack and every dog gets their chance. We look after the surface, it’s always in good condition and it’s got good runs to the first bend that I know makes trainers happy.”
The Maitland Future Stars Maiden has arguably produced more star performers than the Cup since its introduction to the chasing calendar.
Good Odds Harada won the race in 2018 before going on to claim the richest race series in the world, the Million Dollar Chase, a little over a year later.
Zipping Kygrios took out the Maiden final in 2020 and finished second in the MDC in 2022 to McInerney. The John and Minnie Finn-trained chaser finished his career with 33 race wins and more than $580,000 in prizemoney.
While Sky Wave won at Maitland in 2017 and finished on the podium behind Mystic Riot in the the first ever edition of the million-dollar race.
Only last year, Rinsed The Lot burst onto the scene for Michelle Sultana and claimed the feature maiden in style on his way to a Group 1 Vic Peters Classic victory in July.
So whichever way you slice it, the honour rolls of both the Group 2 Maitland Gold Cup and the Maitland Future Stars don’t lie.
Some impressive chasers and great trainers are written into the record books of both features and we look forward to seeing more star performances in 2024.
The heats of both races will take place in the final week of November, with both finals set for December 6. The Gold Cup is worth $40,000-to-the-winner, while the Future Stars Maiden winner will net $15,000.
MDC serves up great theatre
The Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase grand final night has been declared a raging success on the back of superb wagering numbers and bumper race night attendance.
The race win of outsider Blue Kermaro also added to the theatre of the evening, with trainer Josh Formosa and owner Ben Peart blown away by the million-dollar result.
“I’ve been pretty confident all week, and just to see him step that good…he’s just a ripper that dog, unbelievable,” a shocked Formosa said post-race.
“This is what dreams are made of, this is just unreal, all the connections, my family, the Daillys, Ben and all the owners, it’s just a big effort combined…to pull that off, it’s just unreal.”
Blue Kermaro fended off a late charge from the Jason Magri-trained and Marty Hallinan-owned Zipping Megatron, with WA product and early leader Sunset Frazier finishing third for Michelle Sultana and owner David Hobby.
The win even more significant considering Blue Kermaro was a $10,000 purchase when still a maiden back in February.
“Driving here I thought the dog could win., I didn’t feel nervous, obviously he dog didn’t feel it, he came out, he was just too good,” Formosa added.
“I don’t even care about the money to be honest, I just love winning these big races, it’s my first one, it’s the biggest one on the calendar, tick it off, what else can we do? Phoenix? You’ve got my number, call me. Is that doesn’t impress you, I don’t know what will?”
In the night’s other features, Exploded claimed the Group 2 Sydney Cup in thrilling fashion from Ella’s Babe. The Jason Mackay-prepared runner lifting himself off the canvas down the home straight to pull out a memorable victory.
Adhana Rico made it back-to-back GRNSW Masters Meteor’s for Sultana after Fernando Hunter took out the feature 12-months earlier.
“This race was a little bit special, having won it 12-months ago,” Sultana added.
“We wanted to see if we could do it again and we were confident that if he [Adhana Rico] drew well that we could. His run in the heats last week to finish second was very good and we just needed to draw well to be a chance.”
National Sprint champion Miss Envy took out the MDC Consolation for Steve and Krystal Shinners, My Pharaoh produced another big upset to take out the GRNSW Young Star for Sue Smith, while Shaula flew around Wentworth Park in 29.33 (BON) to win the MDC Maiden for Sonia Davis.
