Xaden zipping towards Golden Sands glory

By Jordan Gerrans

Group 1 glory beckons for emerging star Zipping Xaden following two barnstorming runs around the Q2 Parklands circuit since arriving in the Sunshine State.

Following several track record-breaking performances in New South Wales ahead of his northern campaign, there was plenty of anticipation that Zipping Xaden would be a headline act during the Queensland Golden Greys Summer Racing Carnival.

The son of Zack Monelli has delivered in spades so far.

He has been described as one of the most exciting greyhounds in Australia. 

He claimed the New Years Trophy Final in his first look at the Q2 Parklands track under race conditions almost a fortnight ago before scoring in a heat of the Group 1 Golden Sands on Thursday of last week.

Zipping Xaden has drawn the green alley for Thursday’s 600 metre decider.

The up-and-coming track star is being prepared by Darryl Thomas for his northern campaign on a caretaker basis for regular mentor Melinda Finn.

“He's shown how good he is before he came to us,” Thomas said.

“He broke track records leading up to this and with his run the other night, it didn't really surprise me.

“He broke track records previously. He's a pretty special animal and we were told that when he came up and they weren't wrong. His first run up here was crazy really. It was his second look at the track.

“He gave the leader Validate - who's probably one of the better dogs up in Queensland - that big of a start and to go not too far off the track record, it was massive.

“He's got a few track records in Sydney. He came up with big wraps and Melinda got it right. He's a very good dog.”

Zipping Xaden put the writing on the wall before heading north to Thomas at South Maclean.

In the middle of December, he smashed his own 630 metre track record at Nowra.

A few weeks earlier, Zipping Xaden finished second in the Group 3 Goulburn Cup Final over 440 metres as the favourite.

The black dog went 34.33 seconds last Thursday evening in his heat of the Golden Sands from the four starting position.

Local dog man Jamie Hosking posted the fastest Golden Sands heat performance with his kennel star Jay Walking scoring in 34.19 in the second of the four heats.

Jay Walking has drawn outside Zipping Xaden for Thursday’s $150,000 event in the seven alley.

In Zipping Xaden’s three starts from the six box, he has won on two occasions and placed on the other.

Following Thursday’s 600 metre Group 1, Zipping Xaden could look to step up in trip and race through the remainder of the carnival.

Heats of the Gold Cup over 710 metres will be held later this month ahead of the Group 1 Final early next month.

“I think Melinda has got in the back of her mind that there could be a 700 metre campaign up here, as well.” Thomas said.

“Right now, we're just looking at the Golden Sands and we'll see how he gets through that.”

Thomas trains in partnership with his partner Michelle Sultana who has already tasted Group-level glory this summer. 

Sultana’s Winsome Jet was successful in the Group 2 Queensland Derby last Thursday and will this week tackle a heat of the Golden Ticket series. 

Winsome Jet also comes from the Finn kennel in NSW. 

Thomas is in caretaker mode at the minute, but he is also keen to race a few of his own top chasers soon in Queensland.

“We've got some handy dogs here,” he said.

“Maybe not in the coming weeks but in the future, we've got some really fast dogs here that I think can really measure up.

“Massaro is one of those and we've got an old dog that's coming back called Rinsed The Lot, he hasn't lost anything so he's not far away.”