One might be foolish to discount Fuelish in Friday’s 2016 Endeavour Locksmiths Warragul Cup. Over his racing career, he has never lost a race from Box 1, which is a statistic which might continue, having secured the red box again in the Final.

Pearcedale trainers Keith and Lisa Hellmuth openly admit though “getting here has been a bit of a surprise. We didn’t expect him to get there, so yes it was a bit of a shock”.

Having had a break in racing since August 2015, Fuelish made a spectacular return to racing, blitzing his heat in a strong 25.65 seconds.

Keith Hellmuth elaborated on Fuelish’s absence explaining that “he tore his back muscle at Sandown and he had to get it stitched up. It was torn pretty bad and there was honestly no guarantee that Fuelish would even come back to racing”.

“He broke in fast from the beginning, so we knew that he was going to be something. Unfortunately he never has had the opportunity to go on with it because he kept getting injured”, explained Hellmuth.

“[To enter the Warragul Cup] was ambitious for sure. It was a big ask for him, especially over the 460m with having done only minimal work. But he was ready to race. I thought it was time to enter a race and the Warragul Cup was coming up, and so we thought why not?”

Hellmuth believes that “early speed is definitely a big deal in this race. There are some pretty smart dogs in this race. You just wouldn’t want to make any mistakes”.

“[Fuelish] is a mad railer. Hopefully he can just get a little bit of room and take off. We are hoping he just pings to the lead and hangs on because he does have early pace. He could jump to the lead and go the whole way, but over the last five months he has had little work”, Hellmuth explained.

“We are just lucky to be there. Whatever happens, happens. We are honestly happy if he gets around the track safely. It’s just so nice to even be in it. We didn’t think we would get in it. Hopefully though we can get a bit more luck to go with it”.

At home in the Hellmuth kennel, Keith explained how Fuelish “is pretty quiet really. Sometimes he can be a bit of a handful but overall he is not that bad. I really like him and Lisa likes him too”.

Anyone who has attended any Warragul Cup in the past knows that the atmosphere is electrifying with no spare seats. Hellmuth believes that Fuelish is all business and it will not be distracting.

“It won’t worry him at all. All he wants to do is go to those boxes. He doesn’t care about anything else. He just wants to go and run”.

Keith and Lisa believe that “to win the Warragul Cup would just be unbelievable. It would be nice to win after what he has been through”.

View the Warragul Cup Final Field: CLICK HERE

Photo: Fuelish. Photo by BlueStream Pictures