Aussie Rocks surges to Melbourne Cup final for Geoff Mitchell
Retired bricklayer Geoff Mitchell produced Aussie Rocks to win through to the Melbourne Cup final on Saturday night as the third-fastest qualifier for popular breeder and owner Ray Brittain.
The 2023 Australian National Sprint Championship final runner-up and Group 3 Silver Bullet finalist — both over 525m at The Meadows — was initially led to the corner by Flying Zulu, but when that greyhound succumbed to injury, Aussie Rocks took full control of the race and powered away to win by 4.19 lengths in 29.395.
The only greyhounds to qualify through to the $650,000-to-the-winner final in quicker times were Big Energy and Tim Zoo.
Big Energy qualified fastest for the 2023 Melbourne Cup final with a flying 28.91-second win and will give trainer Jackie Greenough a chance of training an historic Sandown Shootout–Melbourne Cup double.
Tim Zoo will give Jason Thompson a chance of his fifth Melbourne Cup victory after qualifying second fastest in 29.07.
2023 Group 1 Melbourne Cup Heat 3 – Aussie Rocks (29.40) – T: Geoff Mitchell
Aussie Rocks has won 15 races from 36 starts, with a further 11 placings, and has earned connections $117,935.
The dominant win at Sandown for the son of Aussie Infrared and Amlin Jewel proved he is much more than just a ‘Meadows track specialist', where he has won eight races and placed another four times from 14 starts over the 525m and 600m journeys.
At Sandown, Aussie Rocks has struggled to match his Meadows form, winning just two races from 10 starts at the track over the 515m distance, although a closer look at his form shows the dog has been incredibly unlucky with box draws at the Sandown track.
From his 10 starts over the 515m trip, Aussie Rocks has drawn inside box four just twice, winning both races, including Saturday night's Melbourne Cup heat.
Looking even deeper into Aussie Rocks' form, the greyhound is ideally suited to inside box draws, having drawn box one, two, or three in 14 of his 36 starts for 11 wins and two placings.
Unfortunately for Aussie Rocks, he will have to contend with box five in the Group 1 final — a box where he has won once and placed once in four career starts.
In the history of the Melbourne Cup since 1956, the box five draw has only provided six winners, although the most recent of those was Hard Style Rico in 2020, who ran a race record winning time of 28.91.
2023 Group 1 Melbourne Cup final field
2023 Melbourne Cup Box Draw & FieldSandown515mGroup 1$650,000 to-the-winnerSaturday, December 2, 2023
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1 Buddy Monelli
T: Lyn SmithF: 2331Career: 33: 13-5-5Prizemoney: $83,395
+450
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2 Fab's Vegetable
T: Tom. DaillyF: 1231Career: 53: 14-5-5Prizemoney: $99,125
+1400
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3 Mac's Damage
T: Harley WhelanF: 5251Career: 36: 14-7-5Prizemoney: $87,380
+2500
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4 Big Energy
T: Jackie GreenoughF: 2511Career: 28: 14-6-0Prizemoney: $208,310
-125
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5 Aussie Rocks
T: Geoff MitchellF: 1881Career: 36: 15-6-5Prizemoney: $117,935
+1300
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6 Idolize
T: Peter PresuttoF: 1731Career: 55: 26-10-9Prizemoney: $336,400
+2000
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7 Tim Zoo
T: Jason ThompsonF: 1451Career: 16: 8-3-1Prizemoney: $72,375
+320
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8 Make No Promise
T: Paul BartoloF: 3111Career: 34: 15-6-7Prizemoney: $167,950
+2000
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| Reserves | |
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9 Dundee Rebel
T: Geoff Scott-SmithF: 3332Career: 50: 11-13-9Prizemoney: $239,275
+1400
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10 Navarino
T: Jason ThompsonF: 1432Career: 34: 10-7-8Prizemoney: $92,975
+800
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Odds correct at time of publication