SYDNEY trainer Anthony Azzopardi admits Fancy Top is not the best dog in his kennels but for 29.81s on Sunday night she was certainly his favourite.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Cosmic Chief x Armatree Elle bitch scorched around the Dawson Park track to win the final of the Cosmic Rumble Gold Cup (516m), in the process collecting $25,000 for Azzopardi and owner Terry Kingcott.
The 2015 running of the race carried Group 3 status, meaning Fancy Top’s worth as a broodbitch also sky-rocketed with her win in the race.
“I’ve been coming to Dubbo for about 20 years so to win this race is really special for me,” Azzopardi said.
“This club is a great little club and this carnival is growing every year so to come out and win the main race of the week is a big thrill.”
From box three, Fancy Top ($5.60) was quick to begin but had to hold out her heat conqueror from Tuesday, Tullabung Honey ($2.90 fav), in order to find the front.
Once she did that and built a two-length lead heading up the back straight, she was always going to be hard to run down.
Still Searchin’ ($7.50) railed through on the first turn after Fancy Top kicked clear and proved the lone threat to the winner, but in the end fell one-and-a-half lengths short of victory.
Tullabung Honey stuck on gamely for third place, ahead of the outsider of the field Spring Firechief ($44.30).
Azzopardi had qualified two runners for the final and admitted after the race he was more confident of Fancy Top’s chances than those of Topper Road.
“This bitch has found form at the right time and I thought her run in the heat on Tuesday was good to top her off for tonight,” he said.
“The way the box draw panned out I thought Topper Road probably wouldn’t be able to go with her early and that helped her get to the rails, and when she held the favourite out to the first turn I got more confident because I know she runs out a strong 516m.
“It’s never easy to plan too far ahead with dogs because things can change pretty quickly but I saw this race a couple of months ago and thought it might suit both of my dogs.
“Thankfully they both got through to the final, and there can only be one winner so I’m glad one of them won the race.”
Earlier in the evening the 318m track record came under threat on two occasions.
The Raymond Smith-trained Irinka Tyson levelled the 18.03s mark when he scored a massive win in the Shakey Jakey Future Stars Maiden Final but that wasn’t the end of the action.
In the Unibet Slouch Hat Final (318m), Neil Staines’ classy chaser Country Gun blistered from box one to run 18.02s, which was 0.02s quicker than his run in Thursday’s heat of the series.