Megastar greyhound Hooked On Scotch sounded an ominous warning to his group racing counterparts with a stunning victory at Shepparton yesterday.
He’ll certainly be a force to be reckoned with as he ultimately chases a third G1 win in the forthcoming Brisbane Cup series (520m) at Albion Park.
Hooked On Scotch was contesting only his third race start since a near-record breaking win in a heat of this year’s G2 Warragul Cup (460m) on January 3.
Trained by Jason Thompson, Hooked On Scotch ($1.60F) exploded from Box 8 but was joined by Zipping Zarbo ($5.20), who came away well from Box 3 and railed inside the champ rounding the first turn and grabbed the early ascendancy.
But Hooked On Scotch’s superior stamina proved a telling factor in the home straight and he powered away for a comfortable 3.2L win in 25.15sec.
Zipping Zarbo, who has won 13 races from 17 starts, was gallant in defeat while G2 Shepparton Cup finalist Revelation ($6.20) was third, just over 6L from the winner.
Hooked On Scotch (Dec ’17 Barcia Bale x Nicki Fields) – a winner of five group race finals – notched his 14th win from 22 starts.
Heats of the Brisbane Cup will be run on Thursday 25 June, with the final on 2 July.
