Velocette Stuns The 2009 Gold Coast Cup

Victorian star Velocette ($2.30) began brilliantly and led throughout to add to his Group tally when taking out the Imagetec Cup (520m) at Albion Park last Thursday night.

The son of Bombastic Shiraz- scored by three and a half lengths in 29.90.

He downed the flashing Dashing Corsair ($9.00) with a head to ($3.20) in third.

Velocette took his record to 23 wins in 53 starts with his victory.

Trainer Graham Bate decided to stick with a proven formula by leaving Velocette in Brisbane under the care of local trainer Mal Pearson.

Pearson worked with champion Victorian trainer Bate for a year back in 2001.

“Graham was going to come up but decided not to at the last minute,” said Mal.

“He really thought Velocette was a good thing in the final.

“The box draw won it for him.”

Bate had two finalists with poorly drawn Turanza Bale finishing fifth.

Velocette slipped through a 5.79 first section and opened up an early break.

Hot local youngster High Earner missed the start from his box eight and although he charged up into second going around the first turn, he was never going to run down the winner.

Dashing Corsair proved what a luckless dog he is by coming out of the five box and charging home late to get second.

Pearson said it was likely both Velocette and Turanza Bale would stay with him in Brisbane for the running of the Group 1 heats at Albion Park next week.

“We'll talk to Graham in the morning but there are no plans for them to go back to Victoria just yet,” said Mal.

Velocette has proven himself throughout the country.

He won the Group 1 at early in the year and then went to Cannington in Perth to break the track record when winning the Group 2 .

Bate rates the dog as highly as any he has trained.

Neither Dashing Corsair nor High Earner was disgraced with their performances.

“The winner is three years old and very experienced,” said Dave Robartson who handled High Earner for his wife, owner-trainer Christine.

Velocette went strongly through his second section with an 11.55 and then proved too strong for his rivals running 12.62 home.

The majority of Cup finalists will now go on to the heats of the Winter Carnival Cup next week.

Cosmic Rumble may have been unlucky as well. He was slow away and was running on strongly into fourth just behind the placegetters.

After the placed runners the field finished in the following order 4th Cosmic Rumble ($5.50), 5th Turanza Bale ($9.00), 6th Ryan's A Rocket ($13.00), 7th ($11.00) and Paddy Bell ($31.00).

The club's Cup has been up and down in prizemoney over the years they hosted the $70,000 Gold Coast Cup in July 1995 ($30,000-to-the-winner), and it went to an all time high of $35,000 to the winner when won by Hot Shot in 1998. But like many clubs in Queensland they have done it tough from time to time and maintaining that extremely high prizemoney levels seems a thing of the past.

However after a couple of years at $20,000 to the winner the race was again elevated to Group 2 status this year with $25,000 to the winner.

The Gold Coast Cup was at its most famous creating nation-wide interest went won in back to back fashion by superstar Flying Amy in 95-96.

It has been won by some star performers over the years. With the closing of the Gold Coast track after last year's final the race has been maintained by the Brisbane club and will continue to be conducted as part of their Winter Carnival. Listed below is the past winners.

Gold Coast Cup Honour Roll

  • 1978 Drum Brae
  • 1979 Secret Academy
  • 1980 Camaieu
  • 1981 Bianca Lee
  • 1982 Carnival Melody
  • 1983 Mathew's World
  • 1984 Jatasha's Star
  • 1985 Sharyn's Vogue
  • 1986 Fifi She's Not
  • 1987 Whip Tip
  • 1988 Riviera Chris
  • 1989 West Cape
  • 1990 Key Dancer
  • 1991 Wallowa Flash
  • 1992 Tickety Boo
  • 1993 Star Title
  • 1994 Flying Amy
  • 1995 Flying Amy
  • 1996 Sleepy Saint
  • 1997 Roanokee
  • 1998 Hotshot
  • 1999 Faithful Hawk
  • 2000 Ngarutao
  • 2001 Sydney Tiger
  • 2002 Mr Faithful
  • 2003 Elite State
  • 2004 Lethal Weapon
  • 2005 Magic Trance
  • 2006 Vapour Whirl
  • 2007 Buckingham Chuck
  • 2008 El Galo
  • 2009 Velocette
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[…] has held down second position without adding a single point to his tally, and Velocette who won the Group 2 Gold Coast Cup during July at Albion Park, moves up from fourth to third outsing Mantra Lad who couldn’t add […]

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[…] smashed the Cannington track record in the Group 3 Perth Cup Consolation earlier this year before winning the Group 2 Gold Coast Cup at Albion Park in […]