El Galo fires in TopGun

By Stuart Teather
JASON Thompson’s El Galo lived up to the lofty expectations of the greyhound industry, belting home to claim the $100,000 TopGun race at The Meadows on Saturday night.
Thompson, the Australian Greyhound Racing Association’s trainer of the year, said before the race he was confident of a good result and his dog did not disappoint.
El Galo started in box five and used his early pace to grab the lead.
Widely touted as one of the hardest dogs to chase down, El Galo crossed the post for the first time two lengths in front, then blew out the field down the back straight, surging to a seven-length lead before the bend.
He held his lead and dashed to the finish line in a blistering time of 29.75 seconds, finishing five-and-a-half lengths ahead of Regal Thyme in second, with One Tree Hill a further two lengths back in third.
Pearcedale’s Thompson said he knew El Galo was capable of winning the TopGun.
“He’s pretty hard to beat when he’s in front. He leads most of his races and I suppose that’s why he’s got the record that he does,” he said.
“You’re confident you’ve got a dog that can win the race, but he had to do everything right and thank God he did.
“It’s certainly a good race to win. Any race is good to win, but when they’re group races worth $100,000, you’ll take it any day.”
Thompson said he was weighing up when he would retire the dog, but said he still had at least two races left in him.
“He’s going to continue on. He’ll probably be back at The Meadows in a special event on Melbourne Cup eve and then he won’t race again after that until the Melbourne Cup.
“We’ll run him in the Cup and then he’ll retire after that – at this stage anyway – it’s not 100 per cent.”
Thompson picked up the dog from Queenslander Dave Robartson in February and said the decision to bring him to the Awesome Lodge – Thompson’s kennel in Pearcedale – had paid off in dividends.
“It has been a good decision to buy him. Financially, it has worked out very good and to get a dog like that is very satisfying,” he said.