Cosmic Rambo Salutes In Northam’s Anniversary Cup
Cosmic Rambo topped off a dominant season overcoming a hock injury to win Northam's Anniversary Cup on Monday over the 509 metre distance for trainer Brad Yates.
The white and fawn dog exited from box seven as third favourite paying $5.90 behind even money favourite Odds And Ends (box one) and Nobu King (box five) at $4.80.
It was no surprise to see Cosmic Rambo jump to the lead with Eric Campana's Odds And Ends heading into the first turn. Elite Angus (box four) for trainer Glen Price pushed through into second place as Nobu King made ground around the outside of the track. They were unable to catch Cosmic Rambo who wasn't giving up prime position behind the bunny. Cosmic Rambo was too strong, taking out the race by two lengths in a time of 29.52 with Elite Angus holding onto second and Nobu King and Soviet Missile rounding out the first four.
“That's how he should go, that's what he is capable of!”, leading Northam trainer Brad Yates explained.
“Once he lead I was fairly confident, but Glen Price's dog (Elite Angus) gave us a bit of a scare down the back. Cosmic Rambo is one of those dogs that doesn't like being beaten, he‘s got a strong kick on him.”
“He pulled up pretty ordinary last week; we had to do a lot of work to get him to the track today. To get into the final last week was a massive effort from the dog himself.”
Last week in his heat run Cosmic Rambo uncharacteristically allowed Wy Yung Bundy to lead him to the first bend. With more work to do then usual, Cosmic Rambo chased hard to finish second behind Elite Angus and cement his spot in the final.
“He normally pings the lids, the bitch Wy Yung Bundy shouldn't have lead him. When he pulled up and seeing what he had wrong with him, it was a very good run.”
The son of Cosmic Chief – Miss Jagz hasn't been unplaced in his 10 starts at Northam, winning on eight occasions and finishing second in the remaining two.
“We thought providing he didn't break down again he was a massive chance to win. It's a bit easier class then Cannington and Mandurah and he has explosive early speed so the track suits him.”
Back in July Cosmic Rambo went within 0.02 seconds of the 509 metre track record from box eight set back in 2010 by Kalden Athena. The 29.25 second run has set up the possibility in the future that Cosmic Rambo could be a track record holder.
“It depends on the track I suppose. He can run you a 29.50 every week, that's what he is capable of doing, he loves Northam but he is capable of performing at other tracks too.”
The 31 kilo chaser has produced wins across all three WA tracks, he is set to tackle Mandurah on Friday in the heats of the Group 3 Mandurah Cup.