Buzz Junkie rides the fortune to land the Adelaide Cup
A big crowd at Angle Park has seen the South Australian trained and owned, Buzz Junkie win the 2022 TAB Adelaide Cup.
On what proved to be a brilliant nights racing, a drama filled edition of the Adelaide Cup saw Buzz Junkie use box eight beautifully, to avoid carnage and win by two and a half lengths in 30.72, ahead of Victorians, Zippy Tesla and Photo Man.
The track was a swarm of hype prerace, with punters flocking to the kennel house to get a glimpse of the superstar, Wow She’s Fast, who started the race as a $1.60 favourite. With the dogs loaded into the boxes and ready to go, the anticipation was extreme, but the start of the race did not go the way that most expected or had hoped for. Mallee Magic was easily the first to leave from box one and with that he all of a sudden looked a huge chance, but as his is natural trait, he shifted up to the middle of track and blocked the run of Wow She’s Fast, putting an end to her winning hopes. With some jamming below, it was a domino-like effect that saw Zippy Tesla clip the heels of Mallee Magic, putting an end to his hopes. Whilst this was happening, Buzz Junkie got a dream run down the outside and in the blink of an eye, found himself six lengths ahead of the field coming out of the first turn.
With Buzz Junkie seemingly home and hosed after 150m, their was still some jostling behind with plenty of dogs finding plenty of trouble. Photo Man was a clear second in the back straight with Top Quality and Fernando Mick behind, with the eight dog field now quite spread out.
Turning for home, Buzz Junkie still held a big margin with all interest in the minor placings. Whilst Photo Man looked to have second spot locked in down the back, an incredible surge from the ferocious Zippy Tesla saw him storm into second place, behind the winner in Buzz Junkie.
Whilst Zippy Tesla will go down as one of the best things beaten in a group race this year, a strong and professional Buzz Junkie will take the glory, and rightfully so, with the South Australian trained and owned chaser doing the state proud. Buzz Junkie was sent over for this race from New South Wales and he is owned by Troy Maynard and Nick Lalli, with the boys certainly enjoying the biggest thrill that they have experienced in their relatively short time in the industry. The man behind the win was of course Petar Jovanovic, with the master trainer doing an incredible job with the greyhound, in the short time he has had it. Petar has had some big thrills in his many years in the game, but last night was the biggest and it is so well deserved for a trainer that is not only a terrific man with a dog, but also a fantastic person within the industry, who is always willing to help others. Petar was clearly ecstatic, after capturing a dream he has set out to get his entire life.
“My first Adelaide Cup, I’ve been wanting to win one all my life.” said Jovanovic
“It was unbelievable. Terrific”
“It was a bit late so we couldn’t do much last night! We will be celebrating in the next day or so.”
“He pulled up fantastic, all good. I’ve got to thank Micheal and Michelle for giving him to me to train for them, as well as that being owned by Nick and Troy.”
“He’s flying straight back to Sydney, next Tuesday he’s booked in. They’ve got other races in mind, I think they will step him up and try and get ready for the Hume cup and those types of races but now he’s won the Adelaide Cup, he might get invites to certain races, I'm not sure.”
Buzz Junkie has now taken his career record to 13 wins from 24 starts with $141,865 in prize money.
With Buzz Junkie the star of the night, the brilliant performances didn’t end there.
Fantastic Radley was dynamite in smashing the 730m track record, taking out the Premiers Cup. Trained by Liz Chegia, Radley was just totally dominant, leading the entire way and holding a significant margin on his three rivals for the whole trip. He clocked some seriously quick splits, of 4.24-15.80-29.04-42.47, which would put him on par with our best 530m sprinters. The win was Fantastic Radley’s 32nd of his career, as he took his earnings to $144,550.
Quite incredibly, the fastest time of the night went to Bobby Axelrod, who took out his grade 6 in dominant fashion. He was able to shoot over from box eight and quickly set up a big break, before roaring away in a slick 30.39. Still not even 2 years old, the win and strength of his run home would have his young trainer, Dillon Robinson, stoked at the future prospects of his white and brindle chaser.
We also witnessed the unveiling of the well hyped Victa Damian, with reports spreading countrywide about what this dog can run. From box eight he put on a brilliant debut performance, winning by four lengths in 30.85. Whilst the time doesn’t show much, his track sense, strength and courage he showed in the race, was something you don’t see from dogs on debut and despite finding heaps of first turn trouble, he was still good enough to put away the maiden field. He is a dog with a stack of promise and will most likely line up in the Leigh Rogers feature in a few weeks.
Other notable races on the night were the Country Cup, taken out by Enthusiastic for Nicole Price and the Adelaide Cup Consolation went to Hill Top Jack for David Geall.
So that was it for another Adelaide Cup night, well done to all involved and I am sure Petar, Nick and Troy will be celebrating their deserved victory for many days to come!