Victorian-trained Tattooed left his stamp on the Ladbrokes Bulli Gold Cup heats on Sunday night with a blistering performance which saw him claim the scalp of recent Group 1 winner, and NSW Greyhound of the Year finalist, Good Odds Cobber.
Tattooed - trained by regular visitor to NSW Anthony Azzopardi - wasn’t best to begin but once he mustered speed from his box 2 draw he was able to charge through and head off Good Odds Cobber who had looked likely to cross from box 5 and lead.
Tattooed increase his advantage heading to the home turn and while Good Odds Cobber tried valiantly, he couldn’t reel in the leader.
Tattooed, who was last in NSW for the Goulburn Cup in November last year, finishing second to his kennelmate Hotel Whiskey One, clocked the time standard for the heats, a very slick 25.85s, just a length adrift of the track record set only last September by Power And Glory at 25.76s.
The promising Victorian sprinter has now won five in row.
Good Odds Cobber who last start won the $250,000 Group 1 Gold Bullion at Albion Park in Queensland, was gallant in defeat clocking his personal best time at the venue, a 25.96s. Had the boxes been swapped the result may have been different.
Good Odds Cobber has come up with the perfect draw in box 1 for next Sunday’s final, while Tattooed is out in box 6.
Good Odds Cobber was a finalist in last year’s Group 2 Bulli Gold Cup Final finishing 6th behind Nangar Larry.
Third place went to the Peter Sims-trained Unleash In Miami who clocked 26.07s and was able to book a Final berth with that performance. He has drawn box 3 for the final.
The opening heat went to the Kristy Sultana-trained Talk About It who caused an upset storming to victory in 26.03s.
Talk About It was having his first run over the 472m at Bulli and had only won over as far as the 450m at Maitland prior to his heat performance. He can be a little hit and miss at the start but on Sunday night he flew out and when he was second on the first turn he was going to be hard to hold out. Talk About It will again exit box 2 in the Final and cannot be left out of the main changes.
The Peter Lagogiane-trained Badger’s Beast was able to lead from box 4 and was still there on the home turn but was unable to withstand the finish of Talk About It who had 1½ lengths to spare on the line.
Third, another ½ length away was, Azzopardi’s Pass The Buck who produced a super effort after striking bad trouble in the run to the first turn. His time of 26.19s was good enough however to snatch the 8th and final berth in the Final.
Badger’s beast has drawn box 5 in the Final while Pas The Buck is out in box 8.
Of all the trainers with finalists, only Lagogiane has won the Bulli Cup previously having taken out the race with Barcia Blue Boy back in 2021.
Leading NSW trainer Jason Magri had his Greyhound of the Year finalist Zipping Megatron in last year’s Bulli Gold Cup, and he has a representative again this year after Chief Lightning took full advantage of a good beginning and the rails’ draw to lead throughout and win heat three in 26.10s.
Chief Lightning was able to skip a couple of lengths clear when the pursuers jammed momentarily and once he had that break he was able to comfortably hold off Ali Tango, scoring by half a length with Slick Badger third a further two lengths away in a time not fast enough to secure one of the spots for the $40,000 final which will be run next Sunday, February 16.
This will be Magri’s fourth successive year chasing the Bulli Gold Cup having had the 2023 runner-up Zipping Novak and a finalist in 2022 with Zipping Conway.
Ali Tango is trained by Joe McFadyen who will be looking to go one better having had the 2024 runner-up in the Bulli Gold Cup, Nangar Jim.
Chief Lightning has drawn box 7 for the Final while Ali Tango will exit box 4.
