Catani trainer Graeme Jose’s long drive to Gosford on Tuesday paid off handsomely when kennel stars Aston Shine and Lots Of Chatter both won heats of the Group 2 Gosford Cup (515m).

Remarkably, Aston Shine and Lots Of Chatter ran identical time, both clocking 29.37sec.

Aston Shine, second to Koblenz in the G2 Cranbourne Cup on October 30, looked ‘over the odds’ at $10 in the opening heat and that proved to be the case as the son of Fernando Bale and Fantastic Dotty led all-the-way from Box 3.

GOSFORD CUP HEAT WINNERS (Fastest to slowest)
29.14sec Wow
29.16sec Zipping Kyrgios
29.37sec Aston Shine
29.37sec Lots Of Chatter

Jose then secured a heat-to-heat double when G2 Bendigo Cup runner-up Lots Of Chatter, the $2.90 second elect, took advantage of Box 1 to hold out $2.60 favourite Sound Of Silence in the run to the first bend before opening up a decisive lead in the back straight.

Another son of the great Fernando Bale, Lots Of Chatter, which was unplaced in last year’s Gosford Cup heats, has now won 33 of his 91 starts.

The remaining two heats were taken out by NSW stars Wow, the defending Gosford Cup champion, and Zipping Krygios, both of which contested the G1 Topgun at The Meadows in November, in 29.14sec and 29.16sec respectively.

Jose’s prospects of starting 2022 on a perfect note in next Tuesday’s (January 4) Cup final received a significant boost when Aston Shine drew Box 1 and Lots Of Chatter was allocated Box 3.

G2 GOSFORD CUP (515m)
Gosford, Tuesday January 4, First prize $40,000
1 ASTON SHINE (Graeme Jose, Catani VIC)
2 FIRE LEGEND (Mark Moroney, Doyalson North NSW
3 LOTS OF CHATTER (Graeme Jose, Catani VIC)
4 VAMOS PENNY (Kerry Drynan, Llandilo NSW)
5 WOW (Danielle Matic, Canyonleigh NSW)
6 YOU KNOW TREE (Lisa Lamb, Swan Bay NSW)
7 IMPRESS SHADES (Jason Mackay, Kurri Kurri NSW)
8 ZIPPING KYRGIOS (John Finn, Cranebrook NSW)
9 ZIPPING MASERATI (Jason Mackay, Kurri Kurri NSW)
10 MR. TICKET (Darryl Thomas, Sawyers Gully NSW)