Dennington-based trainer Dustin Drew hopes his staying sweetheart, Untapped, can ‘rain on the parade’ of “Team Delbridge” during the $75,000 to-the-winner Group 1 TRFM Sale Cup (650m) series.
“They’ve been running hot since last year’s Sale Cup,” Drew quipped. (The Delbridges also won last month’s G1 Melbourne Cup with Yachi Bale.)
Ironically, the Delbridge-trained Jarick Bale won last year’s Sale Cup on Boxing Day, with Untapped finishing third. And their rivalry continued when Untapped prevailed narrowly over Jarick Bale in the G1 Sandown Cup in May.
A six-time G1 finalist, Untapped (Box 6) will contest Heat 2 – Race 6, 7.09pm – on Sunday night. She’s a $3.30 joint favourite with Fernando’s Quest.
And she’s $10 in Sportsbet’s ‘All In’ market. Jarick Bale, which is chasing successive Sale Cups, shares favouritism at $5.50 with kennelmate Yachi Bale and Dookie Devil.
“But her best against the best is proven. She’s done it before.”
“Team Delbridge” launches a powerful three-pronged challenge in the four heats: Heat 1 (Race 5, 6.47pm) – Yachi Bale (Box 6 – $2.70F); Heat 3 (Race 7, 7.32pm) – Jarick Bale (Box 6 – $1.90F); and Heat 4 (Race 8, 7.49pm) – Valor Bale (Box 4 – $7).
So, can Untapped be the ‘fly in the ointment’ of the Delbridge juggernaut?
Drew is reserved on whether she can ‘crash the party’.
“Jarick Bale is a super dog and he’s going just as good as ever,” he said. “I hope so, but you can never be over-confident at this level.
“But her best against the best is proven. She’s done it before.”
Drew believes Untapped has fully recovered from last month’s G1 Bold Trease where she finished fourth.
“She was a bit off colour after the Bold Trease,” he said. “I don’t know if she picked up some sort of bug.
“But I was very happy with her 25.70sec trial at Geelong on Monday night.”
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And he added that even though she’s drawn the ‘green’ trap in her Sale Cup heat, “she’s a better dog drawn off the track and just needs a bit of room early”.
Untapped (Apr ’19 Aston Dee Bee x Mepunga Fame) has raced on 54 occasions for 14 wins, with seven seconds and 14 thirds, and $310,988 in prizemoney.
She’s contested two G1 finals – Bold Trease and Topgun Stayers (3rd) – from her past three starts.
Her G1 finals record also includes: 2021 Bold Trease (3rd) and 2022 Zoom Top (3rd).
WATCH: UNTAPPED (B7) staves off JARICK BALE (B8) in the G1 Sandown Cup.
