Dailly’s ‘Fab Four’ in Australian Cup

Saturday, 19 Feb, 2022,
by Gerard Guthrie

Dailly’s ‘Fab Four’ in Australian Cup

Andrea Dailly has dominated the Group 1 TAB Australian Cup in recent years and will have numbers on her side as she chases a remarkable sixth victory since 2010 in next weekend’s $300,000 to-the-winner Cup final at The Meadows.

Eight ‘sudden death’ heats were conducted on Saturday night and Team Dailly will supply half the field for the final after incredibly training four winners; homebred quartet Lala Kiwi (29.61sec), Zippy Tesla (29.75sec), Daph’s Ascend (29.80sec) and Gypsy Bun (29.83sec).

Lala Kiwi, runner-up in the G1 Melbourne Cup in November, produced the fastest qualifying performance in heat three when upstaging series favourite Aston Rupee.

Dailly’s previous Australian Cup winners are Dyna Lachlan (2010), Spud Regis (2013), Dyna Double One (2015), Hecton Bale (2018) and Dyna Patty (2019).

VIDEO REPLAYS

Other highlights from Saturday night’s heats included:

Champion trainer Jason Thompson will attempt to break his Australian Cup hoodoo with Immunity, a half-sister to Thompson’s 2019 Australian Cup runner-up Black Opium.
Kelly Bravo is hoping Paddy Wants Pat can emulate the G1-winning exploits of his mother, former superstar sprinter Striker Light, whose three G1 victories included the Temlee during the 2018 Australian Cup Carnival.
Twelve months after starting favourite in the G3 Vic Bred Maiden final on Australian Cup night, Orlando, trained by Lee Moore, produced the biggest heat upset, starting at $28 when taking out the penultimate heat.
Young trainer and former pro-wrestler Daniel Gibbons, 33, will take aim at his first G1 success with Titan Blazer, which ran third in the G1 Silver Chief at The Meadows in January.

HEAT WINNERS
(Fastest to slowest)

29.61sec Lala Kiwi
29.74sec Immunity
29.75sec Zippy Tesla
29.80sec Daph’s Ascend
29.83sec Gypsy Bun
29.86sec Orlando
29.87sec Paddy Wants Pats
29.92sec Titan Blazer

Despite being first reserve, Aston Rupee is TAB’s ‘Pre Box Draw’ favourite at $2.30, ahead of Lala Kiwi ($3.20) and Immunity ($3.50). Riccarton Rick qualified as the second reserve.

Photos by Clint Anderson

Gerard Guthrie

One of Australia’s leading greyhound racing journalists since 2000 with the Greyhound Recorder and now with Greyhound Racing Victoria. Part-owner 2013 Group 1 Paws Of Thunder winner Sheikha. (The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of GRV)