Paw Bradley cruises to his effortless Auckland Cup victory
Peter Fenemor • January 26th, 2026 2:59 PM • 5 min read
Sheer pace and strength carried the talented greyhound Paw Bradley to his emphatic victory in Sunday’s $80,000 Auckland Cup.
It was a masterful all-round race that the Craig Roberts conditioned chaser delivered while wearing the TAB 3 rug.
Jumping smartly from the 527m eight-trap was the Dave Fahey and Katie Wyllie prepared current NZ Cup title holder Original Warrior to lead the classy field into the first turn.
He was being stalked by the Garry Cleeve trained Stuck Throttle, with Paw Bradley ominously positioning himself on his outside.
Original Warrior freewheeled his way down the back straight with the order remaining the same.
It was when rounding the final turn when the Brendan Wheeler owned Paw Bradley ranged up to Original Warrior, taking control of the Group One event.
He maintained his strong gallop to the judge, claiming his first Group One title by a length after 30.47 seconds of hard out chasing.
The stayer Chief Dribble unleashed powerfully during the run home to secure second for Roberts’s son Matt, who trains in partnership with Jack Johnson.
Original Warrior was gallant when finishing third a further three-quarters of a length behind, completing a podium clean sweep for Canterbury trainers.
For Craig Roberts it was his fifth Auckland Cup training success, dating back to 1999 when Denil Bale started his Cup winning ball rolling.
All five wins have been for the prolific owing Wheeler family, initially for the Australian Hall of Fame breeder and owner, the late Paul Wheeler and recently for his wife Jan, along with son Brendan.
“It has been an absolute privilege and honour train classy greyhounds for the Wheeler family over so many years.
“The Wheeler’s have been the catalyst for my training career, and the relationship has withstood the test of time with this win being around the 30th Group 1 winner I’ve prepared for the family.
“Paw Bradley is right up there with the very best of them and he thoroughly deserves his Group 1 win.
“He put himself straight into the race when making a clean start and I was comfortable when he placed himself handy to the pace rounding the first turn.
“Going down the back straight I thought he had the race won, then I saw Chief Dribble getting closer to him, however he had built a margin, which Paw Bradley held to the line,” reflected Roberts about the winner of 21 races and $174,278 in stake earnings.
“It’s also a buzz to again train a Group 1 quinella with Matt. That’s around four times that has occurred – the score is three – one to me,” chuckled Roberts.
When asked about his immediate racing plans for Paw Bradley, Roberts responded with, “Probably the $20,000 457m race on Commentators Day in Palmerston North (February 17).”.
It was a successful afternoon at the Manukau Stadium for Roberts as he also applied the finishing touches to Caterpie Bale, who stylishly won the feature 527m Winsome Ashley Trophy, also for Brendan Wheeler.
“I was really rapt with her. She’s had her issues and she’s racing in the twilight of her career,” commented Roberts.
Jerry Cola sizzles to Railway Sprint victory
The exceptional sprinter Jerry Cola put the $30,000 Railway Sprint out of the reach of his classy rivals as soon as he exploded from the Manukau 318m five-trap.
It was a potent sprinting exhibition that the Dave Fahey and Katie Wyllie mentored Jerry Cola displayed when he flew through his assignment, clocking a ‘track record’ 17.95 sprint. Unfortunately, the time cannot be recognized owing to the race being hand started.
Max Effort effectively used his rails trap draw to gamely chase home the free-flowing winner 3.25 lengths behind to secure the runners up prize for Garry Cleeve.
It was a tidy sprint that the locally Jared Udy and Denise Cottam prepared sprinter Simek produced when he claimed the third placing, a further 2.50 lengths behind.
“I was pleased when he came out running - he had then covered from there. Jerry is absolute machine,” commented Fahey about the winner of 43 of his 58 races ($177,260) who he bred and races with wife Jean.
The Fahey and Wyllie training team also set alight last year’s Railway Sprint sprinter Everest Sky to win the feature Auckland Invitation 318m sprint when overcoming early traffic issues.
“That was a huge run home by Everest Sky after being in early trouble,” said Fahey.
The leading strike rate trainer produced Opawa Postman win stylishly win the Delys Van Meeuwen Memorial Stakes, which was the Auckland Cup consolation event.
“He’s showing better box speed now, which won him the race. We will set him for Restricted Age races, which is exciting for him,” confirmed Fahey.
