Brown Fires Down A Goulburn Cup Ace

RECENT kennel acquisition Nangar Ace will look to maintain his unbeaten record for new trainer Neville Brown when he lines up from box three in Tuesday afternoon’s Goulburn Workers Club Goulburn Cup Final (440m).

Adam Dobbin28 November 2018

RECENT kennel acquisition Nangar Ace will look to maintain his unbeaten record for new trainer Neville Brown when he lines up from box three in Tuesday afternoon's Goulburn Workers Club Goulburn Cup Final (440m).

Boasting three wins from as many starts for Brown, extending his overall record to seven wins from 24 appearances, the son of the great Brett Lee and All Too Fancy – the dam a finalist in the 2014 Goulburn Cup – was ultra-impressive landing the fourth and final Cup qualifier on Tuesday, outpointing race favourite Scientific Man by 1 ¾ lengths in a slick 24.87.

And after only making his way to Brown's Bargo kennels midway through October, after being purchased from leading breeder Dennis Barnes in a package deal with littermate Nangar Jack, victory in Tuesday's $20,000 to-the-winner Goulburn Cup would reap a tidy return for Brown following his investment to acquire the talented duo.

"I've been mates with Dennis (Barnes) for a lot of years and the thing with Dennis is he always sells a fair dog for a fair price and they'll run you exactly what he tells you they'll run you," said Brown earlier this week.

"I had Nangar Jack and Nangar Ace in the heats on Tuesday. With Jack I did everything right, I trialled him down there twice and gave him a great hope but he got dragged down from behind and got beat. With Ace I did everything wrong, he hadn't trialled at the track and walking to the boxes I didn't give him much hope at all – and he came out and won. It's a funny game we're in!”

No stranger to feature race success, having guided Tuiaki to victory in the Group 2 Gosford Gold Cup (2011) and Group 2 Peter Mosman Classic (2010), as well as putting the polish on former top flight chaser turned successful stud dog Swift Fancy, Brown remains optimistic about his Goulburn Cup claims next Tuesday, a race that is choc-full of quality gallopers.

"I'm happy with box three in the final and you'd think he'd have to improve with the look at the track,” said Brown.

"I'd say Mark's dog in the red (Scientific Man) and the Victorian dog (Fernando Drums) are the two to beat, it's a hot race but I'm happy with my bloke!

"It's funny I was looking at the group race calendar the other day and saw the Gosford Cup was coming up and it feels like just recently Tuiaki won the Cup up there," reflected Brown of his former star galloper.

"After Goulburn I'll look at taking Nangar Ace and Nangar Jack up to Gosford for the Cup – they won't have any problems with the two turns and it looks a nice race for them to head towards."

Fresh off a winning treble at Bulli last Saturday night, Brown is settling in well to his new property at Bargo, having called Catherine Field home prior to the move.

"I tried to build the property to what I wanted and train at the same time and in hindsight it was the wrong move," said Brown.

"I was trying to do both and I really needed to concentrate on one or the other. We've got things basically all done now so the full focus is on training and we are starting to see that with the results we're getting.

"I'm a person that wants things perfect and we're almost there now."

Setting the pace for Tuesday's Cup final is the Gary Kimber-trained Corleone King, the son of Smooth Fancy landing a three-quarter length victory in his heat over Cosmic Blend in a sizzling 24.73.

The opening run-off was taken out by Fernando Drums for Melbourne Cup winning trainer Dave Geall, the son of Fernando Bale backing up his impressive first up win at the track a week earlier to down Smart Desire by 2 ¾ lengths in 24.99.

The second qualifier was an all-the-way victory to the ever reliable One Hour Parking for trainer Mark Knowles, landing a 19^th career victory to defeat Bogan Doonie by 4 ¼ lengths in a sharp 24.75.

Another trainer set to play a leading hand in Tuesday's final is Mark Wilcox, the Bringelly conditioner lining up littermates Cosmic Blend (box 6) and Scientific Man (box 1) after each finished runner-up in their qualifiers.

By Cosmic Rumble out of outstanding producer Winning Shiraz, the pair will be out to emulate the deeds of their older half-brother Natural Player (Knocka Norris), winner of the Goulburn Cup back in 2014 for Wilcox.

Last Tuesday's program also saw four heats of the Ladbrokes Fireball conducted over the 350m, where fastest qualifier for the final is the Terry O'Keefe-trained Al's Desire, the son Spring Gun landing a 19^th career win with a determined 1 ½ length victory over race favourite Myrniong And All in a fast 19.89.

BOX DRAW FOR 2018 GOULBURN CUP FINAL (440m)