The Beast Unleashed Gosford Gold Cup will be run and won on the Central Coast on Friday night. Here’s our preview of the first Group 2 final of the year, including our tip to claim the $40,000 prize:
Make Them Cry | Peter Lagogiane
Best Gosford 515m Time: 29.44
Best Track & Distance 1st Split: 4.46
Track & Distance Record: 3: 0-2-1
Box 1 History: 3: 1-1-0
Ladbrokes Price: $4.80
Final Thought: Another year and another drama filled lead up to the Gosford Gold Cup. Defending champion and pre-race favourite, Good Odds Cobber, comes out which means Make Them Cry is gifted the plumb draw for the first feature final of the year. Some will say she’s been enigmatic to start her career after running second on 11 occasions in 21 starts…others will say she’s been a model of consistency. Finished third in her heat behind Chief Lightning and Gets Late Early (who are currently jostling for favouritism) so the form is hot, she will be strong to the line after a good 600m effort three back, and she is a full sister to Wenty Park track record holder Dalwhinnie. Is Group 2 level a bridge too far for her at this stage of her career?
Make Them Cry with Jorja Howard
Miss Zig Zag | Sydney Swain
Best Gosford 515m Time: 29.39
Best Track & Distance 1st Split: 4.37
Track & Distance Record: 1: 0-1-0
Box 2 History: 5: 1-0-1
Ladbrokes Price: $6.50
Final Thought: She was bold and brave out in front seven days ago, but she was eventually overrun late in the heats by arguably the best sprinter in NSW in Good Odds Cobber. She’s helped by that greyhound scratching from Box 1, but with superior speed coming out of Box 3 and Box 4, she might get buried on the fence and she can’t win from off the pace. Interestingly, she’s won a dozen races for connections but has never won a non-graded or free-for-all race in her 48 career starts. Can her track and trip PB of 29.39 win a race of this quality or does she need to find a few lengths to knock off this field?
Final Thought: One of the form dogs of the final and arrives in the decider after winning six of his last eight starts including his heat in the fastest time of 29.12. Fended off the fast finishing Gets Late Early last week and may well have to do it again if he’s to claim his first major career win. His only defeats since October 11 came in the heat and final of the Group 2 Maitland Gold Cup where he went down to Black Tsunami and Fusion Mint respectively and he’s never missed the frame in his 25 start career. He ripped off four straight at Wenty Park in October/November last year but only one of those runs was sub-30 seconds so is 515m right on the end of his distance limit? We’ll find out on Friday.
Final Thought: The Maitland Gold Cup champion continued her good form with a gallant second-placing in the heats of the Gosford feature. She finished less than a length off Speedy Pie and considering it was her first run since the big win at Maitland back on December 6, you’d expect more improvement from her in the final. Her mode of operating is to get out and go and hang tough on the arm so if she can get across and lead into the first bend, she will probably be in front for a fair way. She’s blessed with great early pace but she is right on her distance limit at 515m (has only had two starts over the trip) so the last 50m will be very interesting. Never won over further than 450m but is seemingly getting better every time she goes around. Orange would erupt with another feature win.
Fusion Mint with the McDonald family after winning the Group 2 Maitland Gold Cup last month
Blue Goose Boy | Graeme Jose
Best Gosford 515m Time: 29.36
Best Track & Distance 1st Split: 4.43
Track & Distance Record: 1: 1-0-0
Box 5 History: 7: 3-0-0
Ladbrokes Price: $26
Final Thought: Very interesting runner. Former Gatt-trained greyhound who found a new home down in Victoria with Graeme Jose after his semi-final appearance in the Ladbrokes Million Dollar Chase. In four starts at Sandown since he hasn’t exactly set the world on fire though with a second, two seventh’s and an eighth - with a PB of 29.82. Returned to NSW last Friday though and put in a massive run to win in 29.36 despite being two and three wide for the majority of the journey. Showed good early pace from out wide in the heat as well so from Box 5, he might be able to grab onto the back of Fusion Mint and Chief Lightning and put himself into the race at a big price. Has won a few times from the yellow and did run 29.59 at Wenty Park in October.
Final Thought: Full sister to Chief Lightning and would have to be the second seed for the Magri kennel in this race. First look at the draw tells you Speedy Pie is going to have to be pretty good to win from the wider draw (no greyhound has won this event from Box 6 in over a decade) but her record in green is unblemished so far (four wins from four starts). None of those victories have been in quality events like this, but importantly, her last two Wenty Park wins from Box 6 have come off the back off identical 5.38 first section times. If she can repeat that, she’ll be right in this as they go past the catching pen. Has claimed four of her last five and overhauled Fusion Mint to win her heat, beating home Black Tsunami and Sooty Keeping as well, so the form lines are strong.
Final Thought: Unsure when we last had two pairs of siblings in a feature final but Both Bowers Ace and Gets Late Early will jump side by side in Boxes 7 and 8 respectively. Both Bowers Ace is like a one-wood in golf, reliable and consistent without being overly flashy. A winner of 19 races and more than $150,000 for the Dee And Pee Syndicate, he’s very good without being great but gee he’s honest. Deserves another crack at a breakthrough feature final win after already going around in The Collerson (second), the Million Dollar Chase (fourth), the NSW National Sprint final (fifth), the Nowra Puppy Classic (second) and the Richmond Derby (second) so far this year. Box 7 record is handy but timewise is a fair way off them and he usually finds one or two better.
Both Bowers Ace is a son of Poco Dorado x Flying Ricciardo
Gets Late Early | Minnie Finn
Best Gosford 515m Time: 29.19
Best Track & Distance 1st Split: 4.36
Track & Distance Record: 3: 2-1-0
Box 8 History: 14: 3-8-1
Ladbrokes Price: $3.20
Final Thought: Minnie Finn says this greyhound wants to be drawn out wide (14 starts in pink for three wins and nine minors) and if she takes a look at the honour roll for this race, she’ll be pretty happy to see the pink rug has won four times in the last 10 editions. Has been spearing out of the boxes of late and if she can reproduce her 4.38 first split from the heats, it’s hard to see her not pitching outside the early leaders in Chief Lightning and Fusion Mint. If that happened, it’d be all over bar the shouting as she’s a Group 1-level sprinter while the other two are questionable at the trip. She finds this race after finishing second to Blue Kermaro in the Paul Wheeler and has been racing in fine form with wins in 29.54 and 29.60 at Wenty in recent weeks. One of the hardest to beat.
Gets Late Early and her littermates have won a combined 117 races and accumulated more than $850,000 in prizemoney since debuting in September, 2023
The Hound Tips
4. Fusion Mint
3. Chief Lightning
8. Gets Late Early
2. Miss Zig Zag
Previous winners:
2024 | Good Odds Cobber | Frank Hurst
2023 | Punter’s Bandit | Jodie Lord
2022 | Zipping Kyrgios | John Finn
2021 | Wow | Karina Britton
2020 | Kid Castle | Geoffrey Grimwood
2019 | Beast Unleashed | Jodie Lagogiane
2018 | Cosmic Bonus | Evelyn Harris
2017 | Barking Bad | Michael Eberand
2016 | Knight Sprite | Gayle Masterson
2015 | Ritza Hattie | Mark Gatt
2014 | Awesome Project | Brad Canty
The Group 2 Beast Unleashed Gosford Gold Cup worth $40,000 to the winner, will go off in Race 8 on Friday night’s program on the Central Coast.
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