Ciaron Maher has been a formidable force this Spring Carnival, a fact that heightened the importance of Thursday’s Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final for trainers like Dom Sutton.
This significant $500,000 race marks the culmination of a series designed to showcase country racing, with heats held at regional tracks. Eligibility is strictly limited to horses trained by Victorian trainers who have not surpassed 15 wins for the season, thus precluding Maher and many of Australia’s leading stables from competing.
Sutton expressed considerable delight that his strategic aim to target this race with Sulek proved successful.
“I was saying in the pre-race interview that it is nice not to run into the likes of Ciaron Maher,” Sutton said with a laugh, referencing his contemporary whose runners finished in the trifecta in the preceding Melbourne Cup.
“It’s a really good initiative and we got the result.”
Sulek, a four-year-old gelding by Super Seth, commenced the race as the $5.50 favourite and responded effectively to jockey Billy Egan’s urgings, ultimately defeating Wetumpka ($9.50) by three-quarters of a length. Rosa Aotearoa ($7.50) finished a further length back in third place.
Sulek’s journey to victory in the Final included a prior win in the Geelong heat, which was contested on Geelong Cup Day.
Englishman Sutton, who acquired the horse for $420,000 at the 2024 New Zealand Ready To Race Sale, has a substantial number of his countrymen in the ownership group. He was thrilled to see these successful colours back in the winner’s stall on a major racing day.
“It was always a plan from the get-go to try and get him here,” he stated.
“We’ve got a big group of owners here from all around the world, from the UK and New Zealand.”
“They’ve flown in and he runs in Stuart Andrew’s colours. They’ve actually won the Grand National back in the UK, these colours, so they’re very lucky and I’m just over the moon to have got the result.”
The Country Final victory was Sulek’s third win from 11 career starts, and the $275,000 winner’s cheque brought his total earnings to $415,325.
Compare racing odds across various Australian betting sites for upcoming feature races.