Former South Australian Worm Burner has made a stunning start to his career under the care of Jason Thompson, scorching around Sandown Park in 29.181 seconds last night.
Worm Burner ($2.70) began cleanly and enjoyed a trouble free run to lead the field through the first turn. Showing the turn of foot that has made him one of the country’s most exciting – and most popular – chasers, Worm Burner extended his lead down the back straight before powering to the line 6¾ lengths clear of Gaucho.
Worm Burner moves to the top of the Bill Collins Speed Star leader board
His time – the second fastest recorded in 2017 behind kennel mate Big Flood – was all the more impressive given the conditions at race time. A stiff head wind greeted the runners at box rise and in the run to the line, testing each runner’s strength as well as speed.
While Worm Burner enjoyed a favourable box draw (he has now won six of his eight starts from box 7), Thompson is cautiously optimistic that there is improvement left in him.
“He’s a quality dog and was drawn well. He went good,” he said following his new charges’ galloping exhibition.
“Nothing has run time over the 515m all night and there have been some nice dogs go around, so to see him do that is really pleasing. I think he can run a couple of lengths faster, but in saying that you need the conditions, you need to draw your box, and that might never happen again. You can only do what the conditions and box allows.”
While Worm Burner is a proven big race performer – he is a group 1 winner with over than $300,000 in prize money to his name – Thompson has opted to skip the rich Golden Easter Egg series at Wentworth Park in favour of the $61,000 Bill Collins Speed Star series at Sandown Park on Thursday 11 May.
“He’s had a lot of runs around Angle Park and he likes that, but I think he’ll take to this track better.
“He was unlucky in the Melbourne Cup (where he ran third behind Ando’s Mac) so he knows his way around the track. So that’s the plan for him, just keep him here.”
With last night’s win Worm Burner has moved to the top of the Bill Collins Speed Star leader board and is all but guaranteed a start in the series. The top eight nominators qualify for the much anticipated match race series that sees greyhounds race in pairs, with prize money allocated to the winner of each match as well as the fastest times – a format tailor made for a greyhound such as Worm Burner.
The win also continued Thompson’s phenomenal recent record at metropolitan meetings. Of the last 17 city races a Jason Thompson trainer chaser has contested, they have won 13 of them.
Click here for full results from last night’s meeting.
Wow, Worm Burner 29.18 at Sandown! He’s settled in well. Go the SA bred and owned champ now in the care of Jason Thompson.
— Greyhound Racing SA (@TheDogsSA) March 23, 2017
too good jason thompson #wormburner
— Ben Krahe (@benkrahe) March 23, 2017
Exciting stuff that. Worm Burner absolutely clinical @sandowndogs – 29.18 (5.11, 18.66), we’ll be seeing more of that in the coming months
— Jason Adams (@Jason4dams) March 23, 2017