Littermates Perfectly Boxed For Gawler Cup

LITTER and kennelmates Rosie Red and Fire Strike are perfectly boxed to be hard to toss in Sunday night's Group 3 Gawler Gold Cup Final (531m).

That's according to their trainer Bosco Stamenkovic.

Fire Strike (Aston Dee Bee-Molly Be Nimble) ran 30.95 to win his heat of the Cup on Monday night and his sister Rosie Red chased home Victa Grosso when second in 30.76.

Other heat winners were All Show in 31.40, Victa Haydn in 30.64 the quickest of the heats, and Came And Went in 30.80.

Amazingly, two litters have three runners each in the final.

Jack's Well is also from the Aston Dee Bee-Molly Be Nimble litter, while the Fernando Bale-Victa Victoria litter will be represented by Victa Haydn, Victa Grosso and Victa Reid.

Bosco is confident both his finalists will be hard to beat in the final.

“They are both perfectly boxed,” he said. “And there is nothing between our two. And, both of them went into the heats underdone so there will be lots of improvement from them. Both have pulled up fantastic, better than I thought they would.”

Rosie Red has been on a return to racing after an extended break.

“She cracked a hock but it was just a hairline fracture so we decided to give her six weeks spell,” said Bosco. “When we got it x-rayed again it had only just started to heal so we had to give her more time off.

“Then when we got her x-rayed again the vet was still not happy.

“We eventually started free galloping her and she came down with tonsillitis and just as she was about to start racing again she picked up that virus that was going around.

“She has put together a few wins of late over shorter distances.”

Bosco says the obvious Cup danger is Troy Murray's star Came And Went who is perfectly boxed in the rails.

“Rosie should get a good clear run early,” said Bosco. “Came And Went is quick out and will go hard left, while the three (All Show) can be a bit slow early.”

Rosie Red and Fire Strike are the first Gawler Cup finalists for Bosco's kennel.

G3 Gawler Gold Cup (531m) October 24: 1 Came And Went, 2 Rosie Red, 3 All Show, 4 Victa Grosso, 5 Jack's Well, 6 Victa Haydn, 7 Victa Reid, 8 Fire Strike: Res: 9  Silver Stone, 10 Spring Lilac.