Alpha Zulu Shoots To Melbourne Cup Favouritism

ALPHA Zulu has shot to favouritism for the Group 1 Melbourne Cup with an emphatic victory in the Group 2 Cranbourne Cup (515m) at Sandown Park on Thursday night.

Going into the $55,000-to-the-winner blockbuster, Alpha Zulu, which had his first look at Sandown Park in last week's narrow heat success, was second favourite in Melbourne Cup betting behind star kennelmate Postman Pat.

But that quickly changed following the son of Orson Allen's slashing Cranbourne Cup performance, just 24 hours on from slot-holder Good Blokes Society announcing the gifted sprinter would be their first representative in The Phoenix at The Meadows in December.

Alpha Zulu Locked And Loaded For The Phoenix

Trained by Jason Thompson and owned by AFL great Jonathan Brown and Fox Sports boss Steve Crawley, Alpha Zulu's stirring victory extended his record to 15 wins from 20 starts with stake earnings just shy of $200,000.

Cups King

ALPHA ZULU has outclassed his rivals in the Group 2 @sportsbetcomau #CranbourneCup Final at @sandowndogs

Part-owned by AFL great Jonathan Brown, he made it 15 wins from 20 starts & claimed back-to-back features after taking out the Bendigo Cup less than two weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/pu6YfieV7r

— WatchDog Racing (@WatchDogRacing) October 26, 2023

Adding further merit to his Cranbourne Cup heroics was the fact he missed the start and had to work feverishly to find the front heading out of the straight the first time.

He then had to stave off a challenge by the fast finishing Big Energy before ultimately scoring in comfortable fashion by 2 ¾ lengths in a slick 29.35.

Finishing runner-up was Big Energy while Fred Rose wound up third making up good ground late.

Alpha Zulu is now a walk up start for the fast approaching Group 1 Topgun at The Meadows (525m) on the strength of back-to-back country cup successes in recent weeks at Bendigo and Cranbourne (staged at Sandown).

The brindle flyer is now a $3.50 favourite with race sponsor Sportsbet for the $150,000-to-the-winner Topgun at The Meadows on November 11 and a $5.50 top elect for the $650,000-to-the-winner Melbourne Cup at Sandown Park.

While all the plaudits were with Alpha Zulu following the Cranbourne Cup there was a sad aftermath with superstar sprinter Amron Boy going amiss in the run and failing to finish.

* Main image courtesy Clint Anderson/GRV