Sulek's Country Final triumph a major win for Dom Sutton
Ciaron Maher has proven a difficult trainer to overcome this Spring Carnival, underscoring the significance of Thursday's Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final for Dom Sutton and others.
The $500,000 race serves as the grand finale for a series featuring heats contested at country venues. Crucially, it is open only to horses trained by Victorian trainers who have recorded fewer than 15 wins in the season, thereby excluding Maher and a host of Australia's elite stables.
Sutton expressed his immense satisfaction as his strategic decision to target this race with Sulek paid dividends.
"I was saying in the pre-race interview that it is nice not to run into the likes of Ciaron Maher," Sutton commented with a laugh, referring to Maher's dominance in the recent Melbourne Cup.
"It's a really good initiative and we got the result."
Sulek, a four-year-old colt by Super Seth, started as the $5.50 favourite and under the skilled riding of Billy Egan, managed to outpace Wetumpka ($9.50) for a victory margin of three-quarters of a length. Rosa Aotearoa ($7.50) secured third place, a length behind the runner-up.
Sulek's path to the Final included a win in the Geelong heat, which was held on Geelong Cup Day.
The Englishman Sutton, whose ownership group includes many countrymen, secured the horse for $420,000 at the 2024 New Zealand Ready To Race Sale. He was particularly pleased to see the successful colours back in the winner's circle on a prominent race day.
"It was always a plan from the get-go to try and get him here," he conveyed.
"We've got a big group of owners here from all around the world, from the UK and New Zealand."
"They've flown in and he runs in Stuart Andrew's colours. They've actually won the Grand National back in the UK, these colours, so they're very lucky and I'm just over the moon to have got the result."
This Country Final win was Sulek's third career victory from 11 starts, and the $275,000 prize money elevated his total earnings to $415,325.
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