Jason Thompson’s dream of winning his first Australian Cup looks like becoming a reality after he trained five of the eight heat winners on Saturday night, however standing in his way is the best greyhound in the land right now, Dyna Double One.

Thompson had a night out, with his veteran Xtreme Knocka winning the first heat and being joined by kennelmates Pop The Cork, Black Frenzy, Moreira and Aston Bolero in this Saturday night’s $355,000 Australian Cup (525m) final.

The Pearcedale trainer, who has long had a burning ambition win his first Australian Cup following numerous minor placings in the race and winning virtually every other major feature in the country, wasn’t getting his hopes up, however.

“I’m no different to any other trainer in that I would love to win an Australian Cup, but it’s going to be tough against the best greyhound in Australia (Dyna Double One).”

“I trained El Galo, who ran second in two Australian Cups (2008-09), and I thought at the time that if I couldn’t win one with El Galo I would never win one – and I still may not,” Thompson said.

The Andrea Dailly-trained Dyna Double One, with three Group 1 wins already to his name, will become just the third greyhound to topple $1M in prize money should he win the Australian Cup.

FULL RESULTS AND REPLAYS
[divider] [/divider]

$355,000 GROUP 1 AUSTRALIAN CUP (525m)

The Meadows, Saturday night March 5
$250,000 (1^st), $70,000 (2^nd), $35,000 (3^rd)

1 DIEGO BALE (Andrea Dailly, Anakie) Won heat in 29.639sec Replay
2 DYNA DOUBLE ONE (Andrea Dailly, Anakie) Won heat in 29.644sec Replay
3 ASTON BOLERO (Jason Thompson, Pearcedale) Won heat in 29.881sec Replay
4 XTREME KNOCKA (Jason Thompson, Pearcedale) Won heat in 30.092sec Replay
5 BLACK FRENZY (Jason Thompson, Pearcedale) Won heat in 29.948sec Replay
6 MOREIRA (Jason Thompson, Pearcedale) Won heat in 29.673sec Replay
7 ERNEST BALE (Steve Collins, Lara) Won heat in 29.934sec Replay
8 POP THE CORK (Jason Thompson, Pearcedale) Won heat in 29.606sec Replay
Reserves
9 SHARED EQUITY (Angela Langton, Anakie)
10 DALGETTY (Jason Thompson, Pearcedale)

[divider] [/divider]
[youtube youtubeurl=”lk3-cBO-POU” ][/youtube]
WATCH: The Jason Thompson-trained Pop The Cork (2) was the fastest Australian Cup heat winner in 29.606sec
[divider] [/divider]

[youtube youtubeurl=”5P438LkTjIU” ][/youtube]
WATCH: Dyna Double One (2) had to work hard to win his heat in 29.644sec.

[divider] [/divider]
RELATED: STAR PERFORMANCE KICKS OFF STAYING CAREER IN GROUP 1 SUPERSTAYERS