Latifi Jiam Strikes Gold In Bendigo Cup Final
Crack female sprinter Latifi Jiam won the Group 2 Bendigo Cup on Sunday night it was her eighth win from just 13 career starts.
Trained at Harston by Ron Giles, Latifi Jiam ($6.20) led all the way from box 8 and scored in the impressive time of 23.98sec winning by three quarters of a length over the Andrea Dailly-trained pair of Cohen Bale ($11.10) and Dyna Obelia ($7.40).
Race favourite Hot Price missed the start badly from his inside draw in box two. The Jason Thompson trained chaser went into the final a $2.20 chance after recording the fastest heat win of 23.86.
Red boxed finalist Selsi Flyer did most of the chasing throughout the trip only to be run down near the line and finish fourth.
The winner is a daughter of Pure Octane from Prodigal Girl the dam is by Prince Of Tigers from Decliro Park. She was bred by the owner James Arthur who also raced and trained her dam. The Bendigo Cup was her fourth straight victory, and she snared a first prize of $26,000.
The lightly raced youngster has shown above average ability since she commenced racing in a maiden at the Meadows in November last year.
She has raced really well on the both metro circuits with three wins at Sandown in 29.92, 29.95 and 30.05.
While at the Meadows she has won twice in 30.05 and 30.10 and besides her heat and final wins at Bendigo she has also won at Shepparton over the 450 in 25.69.
After the placings the field finished in the following order 4th Selsi Flyer ($15.70), 5th Silent Guardian ($6.00), 6th Sasha Jet ($19.90) 7th Hot Price ($2.20fav) and Zenith ($17.50).
Latifi Jiam is a Fawn Bitch whelped August 2007 by Pure Octane from Prodigal Girl (Prince Of Tigers x Decliro Park) She is raced and bred by James Arthur and trained by Ron Giles at Harston near Tatura in central Victoria. Latifi Jiam he has raced 13 times for eight wins and one placings and the $26,000 first prize took her stake earnings to $36,800.
The Bendigo Cup was the main event on a huge night of racing at Lords Raceway, where a total of seven finals were conducted including the $10,000 to-the-winner Rocky Ridge Farm Gold Rush Maiden Final, the race was won by the Kelvyn Greenough-trained Mint Power.
Mint Power, a 21 month old son of Elite State, made it three wins from as many starts when scorching the 430 metres circuit in 23.78sec, which is less than three lengths off Slater's 23.61 track record.
Other winners on the night were Coulta Sally who took out the Allen ‘Scribe' Taylor Memorial event over 430 metres running 24.12. Black Imposter won the Rocky Ridge Farm Maiden consolation final in 24.44 and Octane Show was successful winning the Merryfield's Kennels special event over 545 recording 30.52.
The 2010 Gold Rush Carnival is in its sixth year the Carnival has really taken off with heaps of national publicity, a host of new sponsors and in particular sponsors from interstate. The decision to change Cup final night to a Sunday twilight then night meeting three years ago has proved a winner.
The Gold Rush Series is a winning concept because not only does it contain the club's Cup but also a number of quality feature races conducted over the whole range of different distances.
The Club takes full advantage of the popularity of Bendigo this week which has approx 200,000 people finding their way into town for a range of activities that are organized.
Listed below is the Bendigo Cup honour roll. The club first raced at the Eaglehawk circuit just out of Bendigo in the 50's. The Cup was run over 400 yards, but for a few years in the 70's saw it go over the 528 metres. When the club moved to Lords Raceway in 1988 the race was conducted over the current sprint distance of 430 metres ever year except 2001 when it was run over the middle distance of 545 metres. A number of top horse-shoe dogs have won the cup over the many years it has been the club's flag ship event.