The Maitland Gold Cup final will go off this Friday night in the Hunter Valley. Here’s our preview of the Group 2 final, including The Hounds tip to take home the $40,000 winner’s cheque:
Chief Lightning | Jason Magri
Best Maitland 450m Time: 25.03
Track & Distance Record: 1: 0-1-0
Box 1 History: 6: 2-1-3
Ladbrokes Price: $5.50
Final Thought: Remarkably, Chief Lightning has never missed a place in his 23 career starts (15 wins and eight minors). To be fair, he hasn’t run into a field like this during his young career but there’d be very few greyhounds in the country with more than 20 starts who haven’t yet missed a cheque. He comes up with the plumb draw again but he does have a quick one beside him this week. He wasn’t perfect in the heat behind Black Tsunami, rolling off the fence in the home straight and brushing into Foreign Capital which cost him some momentum, but if he can hold a better line in the final, I think he can find a length or two and he’ll be in the finish.
Chief Lightning is a son of Fernando Bale x Sweet City Woman and a half-brother to Overflow Beau
Fusion Mint | Wesley McDonald
Best Maitland 450m Time: 24.90
Track & Distance Record: 1: 0-1-0
Box 2 History: 2: 1-1-0
Ladbrokes Price: $5.50
Final Thought: Flew out in the heats and managed to cross eventual winner You Never Lose by the time they began the first bend. The diminutive 24kg chaser looked prime for the taking down the big, expansive straight of Maitland but she just kept punching away, eventually going down in a bob of the head on the line. The time of 24.90 was the third fastest of the preliminaries and she looms as a real smokie to take out this final. She gets an identical Box 2 draw which should see her lead, she is having her fourth run back from a spell so should be reaching peak fitness, and if there’s any mess in behind her, she could lead for a long time. What a story it would be!
Black Tsunami | Michelle Sultana
Best Maitland 450m Time: 24.89
Track & Distance Record: 5: 2-1-0
Box 3 History: 7: 3-0-0
Ladbrokes Price: $3.60
Final Thought: Equal fastest qualifier alongside kennelmate You Never Lose (24.89) and he did it after a month off the track. His last race start was a 324m effort up the Richmond Straight so it’s been a good training effort from Michelle Sultana to have this guy cherry ripe for a big feature. He’s a monster of a dog at more than 40kg so if he can tack onto the back of likely leader Fusion Mint, he should be able to overpower her late. Has experience at Maitland with five race starts under his belt and although he’s not an out and out top liner, this sort of race is well within his grasp.
Final Thought: It was an interesting win last week in the heats. She wasn’t electric away and by the time they made it to bend, she had drifted back through the field and found the rail. From there, she showed great race sense to slice her way through the pack and then she really motored out of the corner to find the front. Once in clear air, she always looked the winner and she was pulling away on the line in a real show of strength…but I’m unsure 25.14 would win the final. Another one who hadn’t raced for a month except her last effort at Gosford in October was over 600 so intrigued to see how she performs from a tricky draw. A great full circle story considering she debuted in the Future Stars series at Maitland 12 months ago.
Final Thought: The number one seed for the Lagogiane kennel according to Jorja Howard after taking out his heat in fine style. The time wasn’t anything to write home about (25.17) but he was out fast and once there was some cluttering up behind, he shot away to build an insurmountable lead. Paddled a bit late but he has gone three lengths faster at the circuit so it will be interesting to see what he can produce on final night. He’s still a very young dog and only lightly raced with 14 starts so Box 5 will be tricky, especially with likely pressure coming from the dog outside him.
Final Thought: He is the bookies favourite after his impressive heat win over Fusion Mint. Had every right to knock up late after not racing since the Million Dollar Chase semi-finals on October 12, but kept finding all the way to the line to prevail in 24.89. Can’t see how he doesn’t improve off that run but am conscious the box does him no favours. There is a lot of speed inside but if can clear Cool Junior, he might be able to land outside Fusion Mint and Chief Lightning as they enter the bend. Doesn’t seem to get out of bed for minor races and his last six starts have included placings in the Black Top Final and NSW National Sprint decider.
Final Thought: Massive PB in the heats to run 25.02 (his previous best was 25.38) so maybe he is peaking at the right time? Has had 11 runs around both the 400m and 450m journey at Maitland so is basically the only local in the field and Jason Mackay knows a thing or two about preparing a feature race winner (he won the Maitland Gold Cup in 2018 with Aston Duke). Was sluggish away last week though and considering there is a stack of pace in the race, his only chance from Box 7 is sucking back and finding a nice rails run into the race. Needs a bit of luck and is the outsider with the bookies.
Final Thought: Opened at $10 with Ladbrokes and is $8.50 at the time of writing so there has been some market support for Kettle Head and has two wins from two tries in Box 8. I can’t see him crossing this field though so I’m unsure how he wins the race? Ran 25.07 in the heats to finish less than a length behind Tracker and he’s the rank outsider for the decider so Kettle Head is probably a fair price. Has only been raced sparingly in the back half of the year with just four starts since July 1, but may have more improvement in him than some of these.
Kettle Head is owned by prominent greyhound participant, George Kairouz
The Hounds Tips
2. Fusion Mint
1. Chief Lightning
3. Black Tsunami
4. Angel Shirley
Previous winners:
2023 Nangar Jim | Joe Mcfadyen
2023 Len Me Dad | Ruth Matic
2022 Good Odds Cash | Tracey Hurst
2021 Ebby Jet Power | Michael Eberand
2020 Mottza | Patricia Chaker
2019 Black Forge | Darren Sultana
2018 Aston Duke | Jason Mackay
2017 Aussie Infrared | Rosalyn Hume
The Maitland Gold Cup, worth $40,000 to the winner, will go off in Race 8 on Friday’s program.
