A terrific round of heats was run Saturday Night at Warragul for the Endeavour Locksmiths Warragul Cup. Here is a rundown of each heat.

HEAT 1: Favourite for the 1st heat was Aston Bolero and he didn’t let punters down. Jumping cleanly from Box 8 he was able to take great advantage of the slow starts of the other two faves in Billo’s Pick and Tommy Brislane. He still had some work to do on the turn to catch leader Danyo’s Slappy on the turn but he knuckled down strongly in the straight to win running away.
REPLAY: CLICK HERE

HEAT 2: A minor upset occurred here with the Jamie Ennis trained Spring Missile leading all the way. He drew awkwardly but he overcame that with a flying start. He had a big lead cornering but he just held on over a fast finishing Rare Pearl who is some talent but needs a lot of luck. 3rd was Lorimer Lad just in front of the country cups champ Ronray Spirit.
REPLAY: CLICK HERE

HEAT 3: The Cranbourne Cup winner Above All was the favourite here but needed all of his wonderful track nous to win. Walking out of the boxes he was last settling before weaving his way through along the rails into 3rd coming off the back. Pouncing on the lead into the straight he sprinted away for an impressive win beating Invictus Rapid and the outsider Flywheel Magic.
REPLAY: CLICK HERE

HEAT 4: Pop the Cork is an outstanding former Queenslander who is now with Jason Thompson and he showed his full arsenal of talent with a devastating win in his heat. Jumping well from the inside he scooted through going to the first turn to lead clearly, from there he was never challenged and he produced the fastest heat time of 25.59 which was a tick over 2 lengths outside the track record. 2nd was Jesaulenko and 3rd American Warrior who were extremely gallant chasing home a star.
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HEAT 5: Last year’s Ballarat Cup winner Shared Equity started a prohibitive odds favourite at $1.30 and those who took the short odds would have been nervous for 95% of the race. She walked out of the boxes but she utilised her inside draw to rail through to 2nd about 4 lengths off leader Black Frenzy at the first bend. Still 3 lengths away into the straight she looked in trouble but she gradually wore down Black Frenzy and got there right on the wire.
REPLAY: CLICK HERE

HEAT 6: The Keith Hellmuth prepared Fuelish has had a stop start career but one thing that was always known was that he had the ability to match the very best and his heat win showed just how good this guy is. Starting fast off the inside he led untroubled and was never threatened at any stage winning easily in a sizzling 25.65. He was aided by the fave Berserk missing the start and never featuring but he was brilliant nonetheless. He won easily beating a game Liam and a fast finishing Zipping Chubbz.
REPLAY: CLICK HERE

HEAT 7: Perhaps the story of the heat winners was To The Galo’s winning heat 7. A graduate of the 2014 Ready to Race Auction he has won over $75,000 in prizemoney but with his heat win he now gets a chance to win his first feature race. He was outstanding running down track specialist Kid Audacious with One for Me back in a clear 3rd.
REPLAY: CLICK HERE

HEAT 8: Star Sprinter Big Ticket was able to put it all together to win the final heat of the night. Having drawn poorly in Box 5 he was able to negate that issue with a fast start. He found the front shortly after and he was strong to the wire to score a dominant win. He has a tremendous Warragul record too. Caustic Bale may have been a little unlucky flying home for 2nd with Amelia Christa a brave 3rd.
REPLAY: CLICK HERE

It was a fantastic night of racing with the big names in most of the heats winning through to the final next Friday Night. The field assembled is quite stunning and there will be a comprehensive preview later this week.