Magistrate lays down law in Ipswich Gold Cup Consolation final
Magistrate held court once again when taking out the Ipswich Gold Cup Consolation on Thursday night.
The Greg Stella-trained chaser lined up in the $30,000-to-the-winner contest over 520m as the race favourite with greyhound bookmakers, paying $1.90.
At box rise, Magistrate sped out, slammed his gavel, and got away to a lead that the chasing field was always going to struggle to eradicate.
Turning the final corner, Magistrate was out in open air at the front of the field and beat Boys Light Up ($19) by seven lengths in 30.24.
2023 Ipswich Gold Cup Consolation – Magistrate (30.24) T: Greg Stella
Magistrate missed out on the Group 1 final of the Ipswich Gold Cup, after finishing runner-up to Get Carter in the heats last week by a length.
Trainer Stella said he was happy with the win from Magistrate.
“Magistrate ran as good as he could last night,” he said.
“He has pulled up well.”
Magistrate has had a stellar year, saluting in the Group 3 Ipswich Auction Series Final and the Group 3 Origin Greyhound Series Sprint Final at Albion Park.
He also got podium finishes in the Group 2 Flying Amy Classic final at Albion Park, finishing third; and runner-up in the Million Dollar Chase Consolation at Wentworth Park.
He raced in the MDC feature two starts ago, on October 13, after finishing runner-up a week prior in a semi-final of the Million Dollar Chase, three-quarters-of-a-length behind the Anthony Lord-trained One Hot Bandit.
The Fernando Bale x Inspired Hope dog is armed with an impressive 86% strike rate of landing on the podium with 22 wins and 16 minor placings, while banking $326,150 in prize money for the powerhouse trainer-owner duo of Stella and Donna Darcy.
Stella told Australian Racing Greyhound that he will now head south for the heats of the Casino Cup on November 17.