Minnie Finn has never won a Ladbrokes Goulburn Cup but the queen of NSW chasing likes her chances of adding the elusive silverware to her trophy cabinet on Friday.
The emerging Zipping Xaden has drawn Box 1 in the $40,000 decider and with the wide-running favourite, She’s Fearless, drawn next door, Finn thinks her rising sprint star will get plenty of room to show his best.
“He’s a big chance and I’ve already backed him,” Finn said during the week.
“She’s Fearless [Box 2] likes to get up the track a bit so hopefully he gets a bit of room early. He’s well boxed in the red and if he can come out and be close to them, he should go well.
“He just really needs to find the fence and when he does, he’s a powerful dog. Together with Winsome Jet, he's the best I’ve got at the moment.”
The son of Zack Monelli x Zipping Dharma hit the line hard behind fastest qualifier, She's Fearless, in the heats a week ago.
'Xaden' flashing his immense potential on several occasions through his 15 race starts, with his best victories including a 29.40 effort at Wentworth Park and a 29.42 run at Richmond.
Finn hopeful he can show his best at Goulburn in what will be his fourth start at the track and trip.
“He started his career at in the Zoom Top Maiden final in July and he hadn’t been back until the heats,” she said.
“And he played up a fair bit in the kennels before the heats so I’ll be putting a suit on him to rectify that. I used the suit on him early days…it’s like a compression suit that just settles him down.”
“At his age, he’s faster than Zipping Orlando [his half-brother] and I’m hoping he can stay in time as well because he’ll be a real good dog if he can.”
“I’ve never won the Goulburn cup…if he goes alright, I might go down south with him. I’ll go north, south, east, west, I’ll go wherever I can go to be honest.”
Finn is also bullish ahead of the annual Goulburn Fireball (350m) where the evergreen Gets Late Early will jump from Box 3 in her 109th career start.
The former Group 1 winner over 520m showcasing her versatility once again with a runner-up finish in her heat in a time of 19.77.
“It’s crazy how good she’s still going. She’s trialling just as quick now as she was when she was two years old,” Finn laughed.
“She trialled 17.3 up the Richmond Straight the other day and she’d never been to Goulburn before the Fireball heats so her run was really good. I give her good chance but she needs to get out quick over the 350m because those short course dogs don’t give you a chance otherwise.”
Gets Late Early is a $5.50 chance for the Fireball with the Paul and Pam Braddon-trained Travelling Gem the current $2.40 favourite.
The Group 3 Ladbrokes Goulburn Cup and Goulburn Workers Club Fireball finals will be run in Race 6 and 8 on the program on Friday, October 31.
