Jason Thompson continued his incredibly hot run of form last night at Sandown Park.
Thompson had five runners engaged on the night and went home with four winners. It followed his stellar night at The Meadows on Saturday with six wins from 9 runners engaged – 10 metropolitan wins from 14 runners for the week.
“To have different dogs to win that amount of races is a great result,” said Thompson.
Of last night’s four he said Aston Dee Bee and Extreme Magic were the highlights.
“Aston Dee Bee and Extreme Magic were very good. They’re not seasoned Group dogs but they’re both young and have some group racing experience.”
Both will head to Wentworth Park’s Golden Easter Egg series later this month. His first and last winners for the night, Aston Selena and Nature’s Gent, will target the $410,000 group 2 Launching Pad.
“Aston Selena will probably head back to Sandown next week in a Grade 5. Both will be prepared for the Launching Pad – I’m looking forward to it.”
Thompson’s kennel is full of talented sprinters however he believes it doesn’t matter how good they are they still need a bit of luck.
“You can have your dog going faster than it’s ever gone before, but in a race if you draw poorly it doesn’t matter how good the dog is you can get beaten. Regardless of how good your dog is going, you still need a bit of luck. Over the last week they were all drawn pretty well and most had clear running, they still had to do the work and chase hard.”
Thompson is one of the country’s most successful trainers and has three TAB Melbourne Cups among an incredibly long list of achievements. Despite enjoying success at the highest levels over a long period of time, he says the thrill of training a winner doesn’t change.
“I don’t care if I’m winning a group race at Sandown or going to Sale or Healesville for a Maiden, the thrill is the same. Turning up to a track and having a greyhound perform to the best of its ability, that’s the enjoyment I get out of it.”
Having trained greyhounds from a young age Thompson is regarded as a master of the collar and lead, however he still regards himself as a student of the sport.
“I don’t think you ever stop learning, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been involved in anything you do you can always learn something new. I’m always learning different things from different dogs as they are all individuals that present different challenges.
“It’s not a job that you do the same thing day in day out, every day is different.”
With only 20 greyhounds in his kennel, it underlines the significance of his recent achievements. He boasts a 40% winning strike rate across Victoria and 30% at Sandown Park.
“We’ve got 20 dogs in work, that’s the number we can cope with really well and enjoy doing. We’re able to give every dog the attention they need and more importantly race them wherever they need to be raced. Wherever there’s a race that suits each particular dog I’ll take them there. I don’t care if it’s Shepparton, Healesville, Sale, Warrnambool, Sandown or The Meadows wherever it is I’ll go there. Having that amount of dogs allows us to do that.”
Thompson has had some incredible greyhounds pass through his kennel over the years but believes the current crop is the strongest he’s ever had.
“I’m in the kennels now looking through and I don’t think we’ve ever had a stronger team. We’re very lucky. All we can do is hope they all stay sound and the form continues.”
Click here for last night’s results
