Goulburn Workers Club Fireball

A Plan 12 Months In The Making For The Lills

By Michael Cowley
It was a plan 12 months in the making and on Sunday afternoon it took the first step towards coming to fruition when the flying More Sauce broke the Goulburn track record on his way to the final of one of the club’s feature events, the Goulburn Workers Club Fireball.

The Lills were in Goulburn exactly 12 months ago, with a young More Sauce having his fourth then fifth starts at the track in 5th grade events. They were there for Goulburn Cup day and took particular notice of the Fireball over the 350m.

The wheels were at that moment set in motion, and almost a year to the day, Michelle Lill returned with More Sauce and watched him blow his rivals away, clocking 19.33s for the 350m trip, clipping 0.02s off the previous track record set in the 2018 Fireball Final by the Anthony Azzopardi-trained Myrniong And All.

He also lowered his own first section record set during that visit last year again slicing 0.02s from the 6.31s he ran 51 weeks ago.

To show just how dominant More Sauce was, his heat time was a staggering six lengths faster than any other runner in the heats.


“It’s awesome stuff,” an ecstatic Michelle said. “This dog deserved a track record.

“We had this planned 12 months ago when he went 19.41s here, and to come out today and break the track record is a great credit to this dog.

“He’s just a speed machine. He’s pretty much invincible over 350m. He just gets out and goes and dogs just can’t catch him.”

Michelle, who also credited her husband Mick and noted it was a team effort, explained that they decided against running More Sauce in the Group 3 Goulburn Cup as he wouldn’t have been able to trial over the 440m before the heats, having contested and been runner-up in last week’s Group 2 Black Top final at The Gardens.

“The drop back in distance hasn’t worried him one bit,” she said. “Because of the short turnabout from the Black Top, there was not a way to get down and trial him, and he needs to have a look at the track out of those boxes first to do his best.

“We could have gone for the cup, but it’s not fair for the dog.

“He has made two group 2 finals for two seconds, and run near track records here and at Gunnedah, he deserved this. He’s such an amazing dog.”

The win took More Sauce’s record to 19 wins and 9 second placings from 30 starts and maintained his unbeaten record over the Goulburn 350m trip, Sunday’s win his third from as many starts.

Geoff Sheather’s Manila Beef grabbed second albeit 6¾ lengths behind the track record-breaking winner.

Andrew Bell’s Sizzle Fly was having his first start at Goulburn but the unfamiliarity didn’t stop him winning, clocking 19.67s in his heat.

Sizzle Fly has been ultra-consistent winning seven of his past 11 starts and finishing second in three others.

Second, and snaring a placing in the final was Snipes for Rickey Brewer 1¼ lengths behind the winner.

Ray Webster’s Father Rick, jumped well but got up the track and allowed Victorian Kepal to get to the lead, but finishing strongly to regain the front and score an impressive 19.69s win. Kepal held on for second to give Anthony Azzopardi a shot at another Fireball next Sunday.

Brewer ensured he had two runners in the Fireball Final when Boaz led throughout to win the last of the heats in 19.67s.

Also advancing to the Final was Glen Goodwin’s Radiation who finished 4 lengths behind the winner.