And understandably so.
But trainer 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 seven.
At his sixth start, Mr. Audacious (box six) started $3.60 favourite, courtesy of his sensational 24.66sec heat victory, ahead of Warragul Cup winner Robbie Rotten (box eight) at $4.10 and country cups king Ferdinand Boy (box three) $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.
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 seven 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.
“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 Group One 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 would remain on a country cups path, with his next target the Group Two Ballarat Cup next month.
