In a night of upsets, Kysaiah – named after classy AFL Demons small forward Kysaiah Pickett – kicked a massive ‘goal’ in a heat of tonight’s Group 2 Geelong Gold Cup (520m).
Trained at Devon Meadows by Carly Feltham, Kysaiah ($5.80) proved too elusive, scoring by 6.8L, in a flying 29.75sec – just under 4L off the 29.52sec track record, set by Fernando Express on July 27, 2018.
Kysaiah notched his 13th win from 24 starts. He’s now unbeaten in five starts from Box 7.
VIDEO REPLAYS
2022 Geelong Gold Cup Heat 1
25-month-old KYSAIAH (7) stormed into his first country cup with a commanding win over ORLANDO (3) in 29.75sec.
2022 Geelong Gold Cup Heat 2
ATHI BALE (6) set up a big lead before just holding out the fast-finishing TITAN BLAZER (8) in 30.04sec.
2022 Geelong Gold Cup Heat 3
ASTON MERIT (1) did enough early to hang on for a relatively comfortable win in 29.97sec over WEBLEC RANGER (8).
2022 Geelong Gold Cup Heat 4
EMANI BALE (3) was simply outstanding, coming from last to defeat STORM STROLLER (1) in one of the runs of the year.
2022 Geelong Gold Cup Heat 5
Recent Ballarat Cup winner COMPLIANCE (5) found the lead late, but it wasn’t enough to stop the powerful WINNINGTON BALE (9).
2022 Geelong Gold Cup Heat 6
Two of the big names in the series, YOZO BALE (1) and SUBSTANTIAL (8) ran one-two in the final qualifier, with the former continuing to get the job done at four years of age.
Other highlights to emerge from Friday night’s heats included:
- Evergreen ‘country cups king’ Yozo Bale ($2.50F) provided Anakie’s Correy Grenfell with a two-pronged challenge in the final with a courageous win over recent G2 Shepparton Cup winner Substantial ($2.80). Incredibly, Yozo Bale – a dual G2 country cups winner – was runner-up in last year’s Geelong Gold Cup and finished eighth in the 2020 event.
- Roughie Emani Bale ($37.20) – prepared at Avalon by former pro wrestler Daniel Gibbons – came with a barnstorming finish to score a blowout win. A $201 bolter on TAB’s ‘All In’ market, she broke Mount Gambier’s 732m track record, clocking 43.10sec, last Sunday.
- Reserve runner Winnington Bale ($24.30) – trained by Gibbons’ wife, Rebecca – caused a massive boilover running down last week’s G2 Ballarat Cup winner (and $5.50 equal nominal Geelong Gold Cup favourite) Compliance ($1.70F). Winnington Bale was a $301 rank outsider in ‘All In’ betting.
- Unathi Bale ($11.60) – also prepared by Grenfell – held off dual G1 finalist Titan Blazer ($4.40), also in the Gibbons kennel, in 30.04sec. Unathi Bale was at a $101 pre-post quote.
2022 GROUP 2 GEELONG GOLD CUP
Friday 22 April – $47,000 first prize
- WINNINGTON BALE (Rebecca Gibbons, Avalon)
- ASTON MERIT (Jessica Sharp, Avalon)
- YOZO BALE (Correy Grenfell, Anakie)
- SUBSTANTIAL (Anthony Azzopardi, Rowsley)
- KYSAIAH (Carly Feltham, Devon Meadows)
- STORM STROLLER (Paul Bartolo, Little River)
- EMANI BALE (Daniel Gibbons, Avalon)
- UNATHI BALE (Correy Grenfell, Anakie)
Reserves
- WEBLEC RANGER (Angela Langton, Anakie)
- TITAN BLAZER (Daniel Gibbons, Avalon)
Heat winners
(fastest to slowest)
- Kysaiah – 29.75sec
- Yozo Bale – 29.85sec
- Aston Merit – 29.97sec
- Emani Bale – 29.99sec
- Unathi Bale – 30.04sec
- Winnington Bale – 30.13sec
Collinda Lady’s track record time over the 680m, lowering the previous record held by Burn One Down.
Downstream (Jessica Sharp) wins the Good Friday Appeal Cup.
Emani Bale (3) came from the clouds.
Emani Bale.
Geelong GRC Manager Ray Bartolo, Jason Adams and GRV’s Andrew Holmes with the final Good Friday appeal total.
Good Friday Appeal Cup winner Downstream with trainer Jessica Sharp and handler Dale Chapman.
Kysaiah wins heat one
Kysaiah with trainer Carly Feltham.
Kysaiah
Unathi Bale (6) defeats kennelmate Titan Blazer (8)
Yozo Bale with handler Mark Johnson.
3AW’s David Schwarz played auctioneer on the night for the Good Friday Appeal.
Aston Merit (1)
Aston Merit with handler Jason Sharp.
Collinda Lady broke the 680m track record early in the night running 38.687sec.
Collinda Lady with handler Luke Thompson after her 680m track record run.
Unathi Bale.
Winnington Bale (9) defeats Compliance (5).
Winnington Bale.
Yozo Bale (1) gets the better of Substantial.
Photos by Clint Anderson
