Although the racing careers of Aston Elle and Queen Of Cyprus concluded six years ago, Saturday night will see their progeny compete in the Group Two Horsham Cup.
Representing Aston Elle in the prink rug is Melbourne Cup, Ballarat Cup and Warragul Cup winner Aston Dee Bee while Queen Of Cyprus has numbers on her side with Alpha Georgiou and Alpha Lucky (pictured).
Aston Elle and Queen Of Cyprus competed against each other in the 2011 Sapphire Crown series at Sandown Park. Although Queen Of Cyprus claimed the heat win over Aston Elle, neither were able to claim Group One glory in the final.
Aston Dee Bee heads into Saturday night’s $67,000 Horsham Cup as the $1.60 favourite to take out his second Country Cup for 2018.
Alpha Lucky ($41) and Alpha Georgiou ($21) are two of three TAB outsiders in the field jumping from boxes six and seven respectively.
“You can never go into a Country Cup series expecting to get through to the Cup so it was a nice surprise to have two runners,” owner and breeder Chris Georgiou said.
Georgiou, a former shop keeper, switched codes from horse racing to greyhound racing in 2004 and hasn’t looked back.
“I started off as an owner and would catch my own dogs, which then eventuated into getting my handlers licence and it was only a matter of time before I started training and breeding myself,” Georgiou said.
“I really got lucky when I purchased Queen Of Cyprus because she has produced so well. She has had 39 pups and only five of them haven’t won races.”
Alpha Georgiou winning his Horsham Cup heat.
Alpha Lucky and Alpha Georgiou are not litter siblings rather step brothers with Lucky sired by Barcia Bale (December 2014) and Georgiou by Magic Sprite (July 2015).
The duo is trained out of Anakie by Jeff Britton and are separated by eight months and 11 starts.
Alpha Georgiou, who is named after Chris Georgiou himself, is a winner of 18 races from 39 starts and heads into the Horsham Cup having already had group race experience early on his career finishing eighth in the Queensland Derby.
“He raced here in Queensland and had good form but I wanted to see how he would go in Victoria. I knew he was special one which is why I gave him my last name,” Georgiou said.
Alpha Georgiou won his Horsham Cup heat from box three by utilising the room on the inside of the track to win by 4.60 lengths in a time of 27.23sec, taking his record to five wins from his last six starts.
WATCH: Alpha Georgiou win from box three in heat two of the Horsham Cup.
Alpha Lucky finished 4.56 lengths behind Aston Dee Bee who stopped the clock in 27.09sec.
“Alpha Lucky could have been anything, especially when he was younger, we had a few setbacks, but I am happy with what he has achieved.”
Alpha Lucky is a winner of 16 races from 50 starts and more than $70,000 in prize money.
WATCH: Alpha Lucky (7) finish second to Aston Dee Bee (3) in the fifth and final heat of the Horsham Cup.
The 2018 Group Two CHS Horsham Cup will be run on Saturday 10 March and is the first Cup held on the redeveloped track which was opened in August 2017.
