While those dogs who navigate traffic, almost magically weaving their way through the field to snatch victory in the shadows of the post may be the ones who make the crowd gasp, there is an old adage in racing that leaders win big races, and that was certainly the case at Bathurst on Friday night when blistering speed secured the Ladbrokes Bathurst Gold Cup for Zulu Warlord.
A stunning first split of 4.18s, following by a staggering second section of 18.84s, laid the platform and not even the strong finishing Winlock On Top was going to run down the Mick Hardman-trained flyer.
Zulu Warlord, third behind Wow and Winlock On Top in last month’s Group 1 Paws Of Thunder at Wentworth Park, notched the biggest win of his 18 starts career with victory in 29.57s in the $25,000 to the winner feature, joining the likes of Group 2 winner Caitlyn Keeping, the brilliant Miss Splendamiro and track record holder Falcon’s Fury, as winners of the Bathurst Club’s premier annual feature.
Winlock On Top, whose supporters would have been chuckling when the noted strong finisher got straight into second place on the first turn, couldn’t catch the winner, and finished 2¼ lengths away in second with last week’s fastest heat winner, Fire On Ice, running on for third a further 1½ lengths behind.
“I think he had to lead at the first turn, if he didn’t lead, he was going to be in trouble,” Hardman said. “He came out beautifully, and when he was three or four lengths in front of Winlock On Top down the back, I was a little bit worried, but then when he got the home turn, I thought he was home.”
With the heats only run last Monday night, the short turnaround was always going to be something the finalists would have to overcome. Hardman revealed it was his wife Sar who came up with the plan to freshen Zulu Warlord for the final and ensure he would ping the lids.
“On Monday night (after returning home from the Cup heats to the Parkesbourne near Goulburn) I handed him over to my wife for the week and I didn’t see the dog until this morning,” Hardman explained.
“My wife Sar, she took care of him all week, on the walking machine and took him for walks up in the back paddock. I didn’t see him at all during the week.
“Sar just wanted to mix it up because we had a short turnaround, so she was just trying to get him fresh in the mind again and it looked like it paid off.”
It was only nine months ago that Zulu Warlord made his winning debut at Maitland, and while there were some doubts early on about whether he would run out a strong 500m, he has shown that is not a problem with some outstanding performances of late, notably winning the heat of the Paws Of Thunder and defeating the likes of Simon Told Helen, then finishing third to Wow in the final, and now winning the heat and final of the Bathurst Gold Cup.
“This is the first dog I have trained for the owners and they are over the moon,” Hardman said. “He’s surprised me with how much he’s improved. He’s nearly three years of age and this is where they start peaking. He hasn’t had a lot of racing but he’s developed into a nice race dog.
“We’ll have a look at the calendar now, but I think we’ll give him a couple of weeks off and then see where the Easter Egg fits.”
Heats of the Ladbrokes Golden Easter Egg will be held on March 20, with semis the week later and the prestigious final held on April 3.
