Victorian pair plot Golden Sands raid

By Alex Nolan

Well-bred middle distance specialist Aston Ulysses is making a beeline for the Sunshine State and the Group 2 Golden Sands.

The Paul Abela-trained son of Aston Dee Bee is likely to line up for his 50th race start when he makes his Queensland debut in next Thursday’s heats.

It follows a somewhat luckless third in a heat of the Group 1 Sale Cup (650m), ensuring he is unlikely to contest Sunday’s final as second emergency.  

Aston Ulysses has won twice over 595m at Sandown and boasts a best time of 38.81 seconds.

That time was a shade quicker than the best and only time posted over 595m by fellow Victorian McCooly’s Lad, who is too headed north for trainer Anthony Azzopardi.

Abela and Azzopardi are good friends, and recently caught up, joking about the fact that McCooly’s Lad had twice downed Aston Ulysses.

“I told Anthony I was coming up, so he’s sending McCooly’s Lad because he wants to beat me again,” Abela joked.

“But those two defeats were over 485 metres at Horsham. Over 600 metres, hopefully it’s a different story.”

Out of four-time 715m Group 1 winner Sweet It Is, Abela expected Aston Ulysses to be a force over the staying trips before trouble struck.

“He hasn’t won over 700 yet but he had a bit of bad luck…we made the Wentworth Park Gold Cup Final and he suffered an injury during the race and had time off,” Abela said.

“We’ve taken our time with him but we’ll look to get him up over 700 metres at Albion for his next crack. Hopefully it works out this time.”

Abela won’t travel to the Sunshine State due to uncertainty brought on by a surge in COVID-19 cases across the country and will instead rely on the hospitality of South Maclean trainer Greg Brennan.

Meanwhile, McCooly’s Lad, who is closely related to 2018 Topgun winner Poke The Bear, is expected to arrive in Queensland on Friday and have his first sight of Albion Park on Sunday under the guidance of trainer Robert Cooke.

McCooly’s Lad impressed at his first outing over 595m at Sandown last start, posting 38.82 seconds to beat Gintoki Bale by 6.3 lengths.

Racing Queensland’s decision to boost the Group 2 Golden Sands to $113,000 prizemoney is paying dividends for the carnival.

The race is on track to feature strong interstate representation, as well as some of the state’s most popular greyhounds in Ninetymile King, Extra Malt and Cash View.

Abela said it was great to see Queensland greyhound racing had “taken off.”

“The great prizemoney announced in Queensland for this year and beyond is hard to ignore,” he said.