The road to glory has been paved for those short course speedsters hoping to take home the 2025 Ladbrokes Thunderbolt title.
The schedule for the fourth running of the Thunderbolt has been officially released with Wagga Wagga, Bulli, Gosford, Richmond, Goulburn, Dubbo, The Gardens and Grafton all hosting heats of the $40,000-to-the-winner feature.
The semi-finals of the series will then be held at Grafton on Sunday, June 16, before the final is run at the same venue on Saturday, June 21.
Each regional venue will host a maximum of four heats with each heat winner progressing to the semi-finals. If four heats aren’t run at any particular venue, the fastest second placegetters will advance and so on.
Reserves for the semi-finals will be drawn from the Grafton Heats.
In 2022, Integrity Mate claimed the first ever edition of the race for Robert Andrews in an absolute nail biter.
The pre-race favourite jumped well enough from the inside draw but it was Orson Laurie who flew the lids and opened up a four-length lead halfway around the bend.
Integrity Mate eventually worked off the heels of the leader though, and once he found clear air, he rocketed to the line to nail Orson Laurie on the post.
The final winning margin just 0.05 of a length, with Diamond Jill running third.
In 2023, Vamoose had been the star performer through the first six months of the season, with 11 race wins to his name before the Thunderbolt kicked off.
Much like Integrity Mate a year earlier, Vamoose’s trainer Sue Smith chose to tackle the Grafton heats of the series and it again proved a winning formula with her charge a dominant winner in his preliminary.
The son of Fernando Bale x Blue Thunda had to overcome some traffic in his semi-final, before jumping beautifully from Box 2 in the final and blowing them all away. His winning time of 19.74 a new race record.
And Cash On Delivery became the first interstate winner of the Thunderbolt in 2024 for trainer Cam Forshaw after what could only be described as a messy contest.
The South Australian product, who was under the guidance of John Thomas throughout the series, was only fairly away from Box 3. But when early leader and inside runner, Brute Banner, veered outward midway through the race, it opened up a saloon passage for the eventual winner to pounce on.
Cash On Delivery motoring his way to the line for a 2.5 length victory in 20.09. Litter brother Hit The Switch finished second, with Short And Stumpy third.
The 2025 Thunderbolt winner will take home $40,000, the runner-up gets $8,500, while third-place walks away with $5,500.
