Sulek wins $500,000 Country Final as Sutton backs race for smaller stables

Sulek’s victory in the $500,000 Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final at Flemington delivered a result trainer Dominic Sutton had targeted for his international ownership group, with Sutton praising the opportunity to race for substantial prize money without taking on the likes of Ciaron Maher.

The four-year-old gelding’s third win from 11 starts lifted his career earnings to $417,725, following successive wins in a campaign Sutton said had helped build the confidence of a talented but quirky horse.

“It’s really good prize-money for these owners, who put a lot in,” Sutton said

“I was saying pre-race that it’s nice not to run into the likes of Ciaron Maher. A race like this is a really good initiative, and we got a huge result.”

Owners from the UK and New Zealand had flown in for the race, which Sutton said had been the plan from the outset. Sulek arrived off a qualifying win at Geelong on October 21, where keeping him covered up had helped him race straight.

Sutton asked Billy Egan to adopt the same approach in the 1600-metre final, holding Sulek up to use his turn of foot rather than asking for a long, sustained run. Egan settled him midfield with cover before accelerating in the straight to beat Wetumpka by three-quarters of a length.

“So we came up with a plan of just trying to hold on to him for as long as possible and use that turn of foot that we know that he has, and it’s really worked in the last two starts,” Sutton said.