Australian Cup heroine Lala Kiwi will take aim at back-to-back Group 1 victories after producing the equal fastest performance in Saturday night’s Group 1 Perth Cup heats (520m).
Trained by Andrea Dailly, who won the Perth Cup in 2005 with Sun Hero, Lala Kiwi made it two from two at Cannington with a 29.65sec heat victory, having won the Cup Prelude one week earlier in 29.72sec.
Drawn in Box 6 in the first of six Cup heats, Lala Kiwi started $1.40 favourite and after settling second, she proved far too good for her local rivals in a 4.75L victory, her fourth straight win.
Lala Kiwi shared qualifying honours with Rostered Off, which is trained by leading WA mentor Paul Stuart, but raced and bred by the Victorian-based Four Frothys syndicate, as is litter brother Vice Grip, a 30.01sec heat winner for Adam Smithson.
WATCH: LALA KIWI (6) is the joint fastest qualifier for the G1 Perth Cup after a runaway 29.65sec heat victory on Saturday night.
Kelly Bravo’s Australian Cup runner-up Paddy Wants Pats was another standout heat winner, continuing his excellent recent form with a 29.76sec effort at his Cannington debut.
It was his fifth win from his past six starts, with the defeat coming at the hands of Lala Kiwi in the Australian Cup.
Paddy Wants Pats’ superstar mother Striker Light ran fourth in the 2018 Perth Cup final.
Australian Cup and Silver Chief finalist Titan Blazer, trained by Daniel Gibbons, was eliminated after running fifth in his heat.
Lala Kiwi has drawn Box 4 for the $150,000 to-the-winner Perth Cup final, the same draw she had in the Australian Cup, while Paddy Wants Pats will exit Box 8.
WATCH: PADDY WANTS PATS (6) was a dominant all-the-way 29.76sec Perth Cup heat winner at his Cannington debut.
Victorian stayers also won two of the four heats of the G1 Galaxy (715m).
The Jeff Britton-trained Mepunga Ruby, winner of the G1 Super Stayers on Australian Cup night, will also be chasing her second successive G1 trophy, after a 41.95sec heat victory.
G1 Hume Cup victor Knicks Bale, trained by Samantha Grenfell, who with husband Correy has won two of the past three Perth Cups, courtesy of Orson Allen and Tiggerlong Tonk, upset ‘Team Dailly’s’ Gypsy Wyong in 41.97sec in a Victorian quinella in the final heat.
Knicks Bale drew Box 2 for the Galaxy final, with Gypsy Wyong in Box 3 and Mepunga Ruby in Box 8.
PADDY WANTS PATS pictured winning his Perth Cup heat.
