The Healesville Cup will always hold a special place with Ian and Lisa Cockerell, who celebrated their first – and to date only – Group victory when Zipping Arnold was an upset winner in 2016.
On that unforgettable occasion for the husband-and-wife training team, their $21 roughie Zipping Arnold caused a massive boilover when defeating hot favourite Invictus Rapid.
The Buckley-based Cockerells have their fingers crossed that history repeats in Sunday afternoon’s Group 3 Healesville Cup (350m) with their despised outsider Broken Drum, the ‘slowest’ heat winner and a $31 chance with TAB.
“I would like for that theme to continue,” Lisa laughed.
Lisa admitted that they didn’t have any great expectations in last Sunday’s Cup heats after Broken Drum had been soundly beaten at his two previous appearances at Healesville in the countdown to the Cup heats.
Sent around at $31 from box five, Broken Drum sprung by far the biggest surprise of the eight heats when defeating the well-fancied Daniel Avocado in 19.19s, turning the tables from the Straight Track Championship heats a fortnight earlier when he ran sixth.
“We gave him two looks before the heats and we knew he had to improve on those runs,” Lisa said.
“When Ian looked at the calendar and saw the Cup was coming up he thought the straight would suit the dog.
“He hadn’t been there before and he’s not particularly quick out of the boxes but his middle split around The Meadows and Sandown has always been super and that’s why we took him there.
“He did have a bit of luck early when the four (Gladioli Bale) crashed to the left and gave him plenty of room. That was definitely beneficial.
“He’s no superstar; he’s just an honest dog. Wherever we put him he gives it everything he’s got and he never gives up.”
WATCH: Broken Drum win his Healesville Cup heat from box five.
The Cockerells have enjoyed great success over the last decade or so with their multiple Group 1 finalist Finlandia and her outstanding progeny, most notably Polijuice Potion and Cornelius Fudge, named like so many of their racing team on Harry Potter themes.
They’ll be hoping a bit of that magic rubs off on Broken Drum when he exits box two in the star-studded $47,000 to-the-winner Cup Final.
“He’s not a quick early dog so he’s going to need some luck again,” Lisa conceded.
Photo by Jason McKeown Photography
