‘Rotten’ problem child wins Warragul Cup

Pearcedale prodigy Kayla Cottrell, 19, pulled off another training triumph when NSW import Robbie Rotten won tonight’s Group 2 SEN Track Warragul Cup final (460m).

A giveaway greyhound, Robbie Rotten – once a “problem child” – showed his rivals a clean pair of paws to land a $47,000 first prize.

Owned by Deon Hanson, Robbie Rotten ($7.20) exploded from the ‘yellow’ trap (Box 5) and led from go to whoa in defeating G1 Melbourne Cup third placegetter Kinson Bale  ($9.60) by 3.34 lengths with rising star Hamillson ($6.60) a further 0.15 lengths away third in a slick 25.55sec.

It was his 14^th win from 29 starts, including four wins in a row and eight of his past 10, and his stakes catapulted to $85,240.

“He might be the next big thing,” said RSN’s racecaller Kyle Galley as Robbie Rotten crossed the line.

And Corey Smith, who co-hosted the Cup presentation on GRV’s Watchdog website, said: “If you were buying shares in a greyhound trainer, Kayla Cottrell would be one of them.”

“He (Robbie Rotten) is an older dog – he’s over three – but as a pup he wouldn’t go at all and his owner Deon (Hanson) got him as a ‘giveaway’,” Cottrell said.

“He’s from a very good litter, which also includes More Sauce (runner-up G2 Black Top and G2 Maitland Cup), but he was the problem child. Not anymore!”

Cottrell didn’t know Hanson at all. But one night she got a message on Facebook, saying he’d been following her career so far and thought ‘Robbie’ might benefit from a change of scenery and that he’d love to have a dog racing in Victoria.

“He’s a grouse kennel dog, we didn’t rush him, just let him settle him and gave him a look around the tracks and he’s going super,” Cottrell added.

Cottrell, who will turn 20 in April, became Victoria’s youngest ever G1-winning trainer when Fernando Cazz won the G1 Rookie Rebel last February.

In another highlight, Brother Bearing took out the $10,000 winner-take-all Cup Night Match Race (460m).

Leading all the way, Brother Bearing ($1.10F) accounted for Xavien Bale ($3.70) by 2.9 lengths in 25.70sec.

It was his 11^th win from 21 starts, including six of his past seven. He’s now three from four over Warragul’s sprint trip and has won $38,865.

Trained at Devon Meadows by Garry Selkrig, Brother Bearing finished third (beaten 0.73 lengths) to Robbie Rotten (25.59sec) in a Cup heat last week.

Ironically, the longest-priced Warragul Cup winner in the past decade is the Selkrig-trained Stagger ($11.40) in 2012.

And the race record (25.34sec) belongs to To The Galo’s, also trained by Selkrig, in 2016. It was also a new track record at the time.

Selkrig also finished third with Peter Galo (47 wins from 82 starts) in the 2020 Warragul Cup.

Photos by: Clint Anderson