Thompson happy with Alpha Zulu heat ahead of Cranbourne Cup
When Alpha Zulu took out his heat of the Group 2 Cranbourne Cup it stamped the ticket for the Jason Thompson-trained dog to capture his second major race in the space of a month.
Trained out of Pearcedale, the chaser was sent to the boxes in one of six 515m heats at Sandown Park on Thursday night, as $2.10 race favourite with greyhound betting sites.
Jumping from the pink box, Alpha Zulu got out fairly before pressing the button to explode out wide and to the lead heading into the first corner.
Alpha Zulu then carved across onto the rail and extended his margin turning the final bend before Fred Rose ($5.50) threw down a massive challenge on the rail in the shadows of the post.
Alpha Zulu held on, despite the judges looking closely at the finish, to win by the tiniest of whiskers (0.3) in 29.15.
Handler Luke Thompson was impressed with the performance.
“It was a really good run,” he said.
“He had not had a 500m run since Brisbane almost four months ago.
“It was his first time at Sandown, and he had box 8 to contend with in a heat of a group race.
“Then he goes and does what he did last night.
“Only the good dogs can do that.”
The son of Orson Allen and Cyclone Jebel took out the Group 2 Bendigo Cup last time out, on October 13, beating home Zella Bale by 3.7 lengths and delivering back-to-back Bendigo Cups to the Thompson kennel.
With a career of 14 wins and four minor placings from 19 career starts with $141, 925 in prize money, Cranbourne Cup fixed odds have him as the $2.30 race favourite in the $55,000-to-the-winner final on October 26.
“We’re happy with the draw,” handler Thompson said.
“There’s a lot of speed drawn 1-4, but he can handle the pressure when push comes to shove.
“He’s got the speed to lead, but if a dog like Idolize kicks up and holds him out, he’s got the strength to run her down if need be.
“It’s a cracking race, all eight dogs are worthy of being there.
“It’s just a matter of who does the most right on the night.”
In his way is a quality field, lead by the fastest heat winner, in the Brooke Ennis-trained Amron Boy, who stopped the clock in 29.11.
The Zambora Brockie x Miami Fernando dog has now won 10 from 18 at the Sandown track, along with seven minor placings. He has won two Group 1 features, in the Harrison-Dawson and Silver Chief final and markets currently have him as a $4.80 second favourite for next week’s final.
The field is rounded out by the other four heat winners in Big Energy (29.28), Idolize (29.40), Exalted (29.43), Launch Code (29.47) and Navarino (29.48) along with the fastest runner-up placegetter in Fred Rose.
Last year the race was not run due to track closure, but in 2021 Koblenz saluted before going on to take out the Melbourne Cup three starts later.