Caption: Former AFL star Gary Ablett Jr with co-trainer Daryl Brennan after Mobile Legend’s win in the 2023 Warragul Cup in the race record time of 25.32. (Photo:GRV)
Group 2 Warragul Cup (460m)
Prizemoney: $55,000 to the winner
Heats: January 5 Final: January 12
By NEIL ARCHER
EVER since the victory of the outstanding Rocketman in the inaugural Warragul Cup back in 1956, the Victorian feature has been won by host of Group One performers.
Rocketman was also a Melbourne Cup winner, while in more recent times chasers of the calibre of El Gran Senor (2011), Ando’s Mac (2017) and Aston Dee Bee (2018) have also added their names to the Warragul Cup honour board.
Other Warragul Cup winners who also won the Melbourne Cup were Marine Jet, Hau and Aston Dee Bee.
The ‘Cups King’ Tempix won the Warragul Cup in 1980 – one of his five country cup victories along with the Horsham Cup, Geelong Cup, Bendigo Cup and the Warrnambool Cup. Tempix raced 73 times for 46 wins and 19 placings.
One of the greatest Warragul Cup winners was undoubtedly the 2011 winner El Gran Senor, who was a dominant force in Australian racing through 2010 and 2011.
A blazing talent from the very beginning, El Gran Senor shocked his breeder, owner and trainer Carolyn Jones when she first sent him to trial.
She couldn’t believe the time that was posted.
“I think they clocked the lure,” she quipped to friend Peter Giles.
But he had run the time and he would prove to be such a brilliant chaser that he started favourite in all but one of his 43 starts, winning 35 times.
He easily won won the 2011 Warragul Cup by 1.75 lengths over Vee Best Vane and Radley Bale in 25.57. That race time was lowered by To The Galo’s in 2016 when he clocked 25.35.
El Gran Senor won a $50,000 bonus in 2011 after winning three country cups – at Warragul, Tralagon and Shepparton.
Jason Mackay’s Ando’s Mac had won two Group Ones – the 2016 Melbourne Cup and the Vic Peters Classic – before he took out the Warragul Cup in 2017.
NSW chaser Robbie Rotten gave his then 19-year-old trainer Kayla Cottrell a massive thrill when he won in 2022.
And Mobile Legend, for brothers Daryl and Colin Brennan, won the race in 2023 in a new race record time of 25.32, about two lengths outside of Shima Shine’s track record of 25.187 set on January 8, 2021.
The 2024 edition of the Group Two feature kicks off with the 460m heats on Friday night, January 5 with the $55,000-to-the-winner final a week later on January 12.
The Warragul Greyhound Racing Club general manager Tony Mitchell said Gippsland community and sporting groups will get the chance to win up to $5000 on final night.
The groups that enter this competition will be allocated a greyhound in theWarragul Cup heats.
An entrant will win $5000 if their allocated greyhound goes through to win the Cup Final.
Recent Warragul Cup winners
2013 – Nitro Cee (Lori Courts) 25.65
2014 – Walk Hard (Nicole McRae) 25.60
2015 – Ronray Spirit (Terry Reid) 25.78
2016 – To The Galo’s (Garry Selkrig) 25.35
2017 – Ando’s Mac (Jason Mackay) 25.48
2018 – Aston Dee Bee (Seona Thompson) 25.53
2019 – Dyna Hunter (Steven Collins) 25.54
2020 – La Grand Quality (Darryl Thomas) 25.63
2021 – Aeroplane Eric (Glenn Rounds) 25.44
2022 – Robbie Rotten (Kayla Cottrell) 25.55
2023 – Mobile Legend (Daryl Brennan) 25.32
