Written by Gerard Guthrie, Greyhound Recorder. 

The superstar that refuses to be retired, Victorian marvel Matt Loch, will attempt to defy the odds and claim a fourth country cup crown in the Group 2 Bendigo Cup final (425m) next Friday night.

Incredibly, it will be 884 days, or two years and five months, and two retirements, since Michelle Mallia’s veteran landed his first feature victory, in the 2024 Warrnambool Cup.

The December ’21 son of Aussie Infrared and Stepping – yes, he turns five in a little over two months – went back-to-back at Warrnambol in 2025, also winning his hometrack G2 Geelong Cup last year.

On Friday night, Matt Loch enhanced his near-faultless record at Bendigo with a 23.78 performance in his Cup heat, his 39th win from 74 starts, at an amazing 53 per cent strike rate.

“He’s just an amazing animal – he’s only eight weeks off five years old!” said Michelle Mallia.

“He’s going better than I am this morning, the old bugger!

Matt Loch wins his heat of the Bendigo Cup from box six in a time of 23.78 seconds. 

“He’s really going faster than he’s ever gone in his life. I trialled him at Geelong last Sunday and he stopped the clock at 22.17.

“How he keeps going I just don’t know.

“It would be a dream come true if he could win the final.

“He would have to be one of the oldest dogs to win a country cup if he did win it. I wouldn’t think there would be a five-year-old that’s won a country cup.”

Matt Loch was the third fastest of the six heat winners, claiming his fifth win from six starts at Bendigo, with his only defeat at the track coming in the 2024 Cup final.

John Barbara produced the two quickest heat winners in Impetuously (23.52) and Cumulate (23.65).

Matt Loch was retired last December when sustaining a stopper bone injury in the G1 Hobart Thousand final, before returning to the track in April to take aim at a Warrnambool Cup hat-trick but he was a reserve for the final after running third in a heat.

He then won five of his next six starts, culminating in victory in the Listed Pink Diamond Veterans final, also held at Bendigo, after which Mallia again attempted – unsuccessfully – to reward him with a well-deserved retirement.

But Matt Loch wasn’t having it.

“We pulled the pin after the Pink Diamond, he didn’t have anything left to prove, but he just didn’t want to retire,” Mallia explained.

“After two months off, I gave him three trials at Geelong and he ran 22.40, 22.27 and 22.17, so I said we’ll have a crack at the Bendigo Cup.”

While Mallia said she would have preferred “any other box” than one for Matt Loch in next Friday’s $50,000-to-the-winner Cup final, she’s pleased with younger half-brother Sparring’s draw in seven.

Sparring, a son of Tommy Shelby and Stepping, ran a luckless second to fastest qualifier Impetuously, clocking 23.67 in defeat, quicker than four heat winners.

“I think Sparring is the smoky of the Cup,” Mallia said.

“If you watch the replay of his heat, he was almost going to go to the lead but got a bad check and lost eight lengths and went back to second last.

“I reckon he would’ve run 23.40 with a clear run.

“It’s hard to go against Matt Loch but don’t underestimate Sparring. If he nails the start from box seven he’s going to take some beating.”