New Zealand-bred Super Seth gelding Sulek scored the third and most lucrative win of his career when he took out the $500,000 Cirka Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final (1600m) on Oaks Day at Flemington on Thursday.
Trained by Dominic Sutton, he was a smart maiden winner as an early spring three-year-old last year and was stakes-placed in the Listed Bendigo Guineas.
Spelled after a sixth placing at Flemington in May, he began his four-year-old season with a fourth over 1200m at Ballarat at the end of September.
A strong second-up victory at Geelong on October 21 put him right on course for Thursday’s Flemington target, and Sutton was delighted to see him deliver the desired result.
Sulek charged to the line for Billy Egan to win by three-quarters of a length and has the overall record of 11 starts for three wins, three placings and $417,725 in stakes.
Country class on the big stage ?? SULEK rises to the occasion at Flemington to claim the Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final. #OaksDay https://t.co/9w9ETk0YtH
— Victoria Racing Club (@FlemingtonVRC) November 5, 2026
“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.
“I’ve got to say a big thank you to the team back at home. They’ve put in a lot of hours, worked very hard. We’ve got a big group of owners here from all around the world – from the UK, from New Zealand.
“It was always a plan from the get-go to try and get him here. They’ve flown in to see him race today. 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.”
Billy Egan was full of praise for Sulek.
“It actually worked out really well,” Egan said. “I just wanted to be in that line with nothing surrounding us but still covered up with cover in front of us and just produce him to show a turn of foot.
“He sustained his gallop a little better than I thought he would. When he got there, he levelled up with the other horse and thought that might be it. I got stuck into him and he really wanted to find the line and get away with it.”
Sulek was bred by the Dowager Duchess of Bedford and Waikato Stud and is the bets iof two winners from O’Reilly mare Tiff And Co, a daughter of Group III winner Myself.
Tim Askew, who now operates as a Ready to Run Sale vendor under the banner of Pamina Lodge, paid $70,000 to buy Sulek from Waikato Stud’s Book 1 draft at Karaka 2024.
He was well rewarded when the handsome chestnut was re-offered by KB Bloodstock at the 2024 Ready to Run Sale, fetching $420,000 to the bid of Sutton Racing and Byron Rodgers.
Sulek is a lightly raced progressive horse going forward for Super Seth, now based at Coolmore Australia.
