Substantial surprise in Shepparton Cup

Most of the pre-race talk leading into Saturday night’s Group 2 CKH Painting Shepparton Cup final (450m) centred on new track record holder, boom youngster Mr. Audacious, and defending champion Ferdinand Boy.

And understandably so.

But Anthony Azzopardi and his regally bred outsider Substantial were reading from a different script.

While Substantial qualified for his first Group event with an upset heat win over superstar Bendigo Cup winner Paua Of Buddy, he was a $15 roughie from Box 7 in the $47,000 to-the-winner Cup final.

At just his sixth start, Mr. Audacious (Box 6) started $3.60 favourite, courtesy of his sensational 24.66sec heat victory, ahead of Warragul Cup winner Robbie Rotten (Box 8) at $4.10 and country cups king Ferdinand Boy (Box 3) $4.70.

Idolize ($9.30) flew out to lead, with Mr. Audacious looming ominously in second; however, the rising star’s inexperience told when attempting to navigate a passage past Idolize and Substantial pounced, charging around the outside.

2022 CKH PAINTING SHEPPARTON CUP

2022 CKH PAINTING SHEPPARTON CUP
WATCH: With IDOLIZE (B5) making the early running before blocking young superstar MR. AUDACIOUS (B6) for a rails run, $15 outsider SUBSTANTIAL (B7) made the most of his clear running to claim the $47,000 first prize in an electrifying 24.77sec.

2022 SHEPPARTON CUP NIGHT MATCH RACE

2022 SHEPPARTON CUP NIGHT MATCH RACE
WATCH: Superstar duo TYPHOON SAMMY (B1) and PAUA OF BUDDY (B3) were “joined at the hips” throughout their titanic Cup Night Match Race before the former prevailed in 25.27sec to claim the $10K winner-take-all prize.

SHEPPARTON CUP
Final standings

🥇 SUBSTANTIAL (Anthony Azzopardi)
🥈 ROBBIE ROTTEN (Kaylah Cottrell)
🥉 DREAM WIZARD (Melanie Lithgow)
🕒 24.77sec

Substantial sprinted clear to defeat Robbie Rotten by 3.5 lengths in a flying 24.77sec, just .02sec outside Ferdinand Boy’s 24.75sec race record and former track record.

Azzopardi admitted he harboured serious concerns about the wide draw but said the near-record time was no surprise.

“I’ll be honest, Box 7 was a bit of a downer for us, but he’s always had the potential, as you can see with all his fast wins,” Azzopardi said to James Van de Maat.

“He’s been airborne, this dog. He’s been absolutely airborne.

SHEPPARTON CUP NIGHT
Feature race winners

“I said to Darren (Puleio, part-owner/breeder) the other day that I’m telling you, this dog can take the Cup out, as long as he draws inside. He didn’t draw the inside, but he still took it out!

“I did something a little bit different with him this week. I did a bit of box work with him. I thought he had to come out a lot better than last week and he hit the lids and I was quite pleased about that.

“I saw him on the outside and I thought these two (Idolize and Mr. Audacious) might get tangled up here and they did. They got tangled up and he got the fly, but that’s racing!”


Substantial is bred in the purple, being a son of super sire Barcia Bale and On The Runway, a litter sister to G1 winners Poke The Bear and Out Of Range.

“It’s more a thrill for me to win for Darren and Mick and the Puleio family,” Azzopardi said.

“They’re giving me some really nice dogs now and to win a Group race with them is very exciting.”

Substantial has now won 11 of his 29 starts, including four from six at Shepparton, with the Cup triumph boosting his earnings just shy of $100,000.

Azzopardi said Substantial will remain on a country cups path, with his next target the G2 Ballarat Cup next month.

Typhoon Sammy and Paua Of Buddy in the Cup Night Match Race.

Typhoon Sammy and Paua Of Buddy in the Cup Night Match Race.

Substantial (7) powers clear in the Shepparton Cup

Substantial (7) powers clear in the Shepparton Cup

Substantial

Substantial

Substantial after his Shepparton Cup victory

Substantial after his Shepparton Cup victory

Substantial and Anthony Azzopardi

Substantial and Anthony Azzopardi

Anthony Azzopardi with Substantial

Anthony Azzopardi with Substantial

Boston Garden wins the Tony McGrath Memorial

Boston Garden wins the Tony McGrath Memorial

Tony McGrath Memorial winner, Boston Garden

Tony McGrath Memorial winner, Boston Garden

Flaming Rush wins the Cup Night Stayers

Flaming Rush wins the Cup Night Stayers

Flaming Rush with owner trainer Shane Drummond

Flaming Rush with owner trainer Shane Drummond

Shepparton Cup presentation

Shepparton Cup presentation

Shepparton Cup crowd

Shepparton Cup crowd

Photos by Clint Anderson

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