It was never a matter of if, but when Gold Force would become a Group race champion and on Friday night he finally got the monkey off his back in a dominate Bulli Gold Cup display.
The Goulburn-based product was simply sublime in a record-breaking performance on the South Coast, stopping the clock in 25.68 to lower Cumbria Jack’s previous mark by 0.06 of a second.
Trainer Denice Warren over the moon after finally securing feature race glory with her kennel star.
“It means the world to me. I’m coming to the end of my career and to win something like this, it’s absolutely fantastic,” Warren said.
“He’s just the most gorgeous, gorgeous dog to have around. He’s always shown that he’s got really above average ability and he just needs to come out of the boxes.”
“I did a bit of work with him this week and I was hoping it would pay off with getting him out of the box, it was great.”
Gold Force joins the likes of Good Odds Cobber, Pindari Express and Jagger Swagger as a Bulli Gold Cup winner
The Group 2 triumph capping an action-packed 12-months for Gold Force who burst onto the scene last May in a runner-up finish to superstar Explicit in the Ballarat Cup.
That run earmarking him as a star on the rise, before he returned to NSW and broke track records over 440m at Goulburn and 450m at Maitland.
Sadly for connections, he missed out of his hometown Cup final following an indifferent heat display, and it was a similar story of woe at the Maitland Cup in December where he had to be scratched from the final after winning his preliminary.
Warren taking great satisfaction in finally breaking the draught.
“We had a lot of setbacks with him early with injuries and being such a big dog but he’s been able to stay sound since Maitland which is great,” she added.
“I’m just so happy for the owner [Michael Boots]…that’s three track records for him, he’s a dream dog.”
Black Myth Wave (two and a quarter lengths behind) and Foreign Capital (four lengths) ran huge races to fill the placings for Vic Sultana, while Jungle Johnny (4th), Cumbria Jack (6th) and Eriza Sparkles (7th) simply never got into the contest.
2026 Bulli Gold Cup champion Gold Force (centre) flanked by placegetters Foreign Capital (right) and Black Myth Wave (left)
