Flood To Break Nationals Drought

GROUP 1 Crocmedia National Sprint Championship favourite Big Flood is poised to fill one of the very few gaps on champion Victorian trainer Jason Thompson's resume when Sandown Park hosts the National Grand Finals on Friday night.

Hometown representative Big Flood, a May '15 son of Banjo Boy and Easy Baby, trained by Thompson's wife Seona, is the $2.70 favourite for the $75,000 to-the-winner Sprint Championship with Ladbrokes after drawing box two.

Incredibly, the Thompsons had never had a National Championship finalist until last year at Albion Park when their Sprint favourite Aston Dee Bee finished third to local Jury, while Burn One Down was runner-up to champion Fanta Bale in the Distance decider.

Big Flood gives the Thompsons an undeniable chance of breaking their National Championship drought, having made a sensational return from four months on the sidelines to represent the Big V in Friday's Sprint showdown.

"He hurt his ulna bone in February and didn't race again until July but he's come back really well; he's come back as good as he was," Jason Thompson said.

"He's won five out of seven since coming back and you could make a case that he should have won the other two races as well. He was a good thing beaten in both of them."

Big Flood overcame an uncustomary poor start to win his State Sprint heat in 29.58 and then started $2.90 favourite from box one in the final where he used his inside draw to lead at the first turn and then opened up a decisive lead in the back straight as he defeated Shadale by 2.23 lengths in 29.43.

It was Big Flood's 27th win from 44 starts, while it enhanced his imposing record at Sandown to seven from nine.

While Big Flood is undefeated in six career appearances from boxes one and two, including his dominant qualifying victory, Thompson admits that drawing an inside alley in two for the Sprint Championship is cause for some concern.

"The draw is alright but I would have preferred him in the middle," Thompson explained.

"Two is better than one for him. I wouldn't have wanted him too wide either. Three, four or five is where he wants to be. That's the line he likes to take out of the boxes.

"He began shocking in his heat, which is unlike him, because he's usually very safe. It was quite unusual but he hadn't been out of the boxes at Sandown since Melbourne Cup night so that could've been a reason as to why he missed it.

"With that run under his belt he began nice in the final. You wouldn't want to see him blow it like he did in the heat. Ideally I want to see him leading at the winning post. The first fifty yards will tell his tale. He's got to lead around the first corner and if he's not in front I'd say he can't win.

"He does like Sandown. He ran 29.18 around there when he was about 20 months old. It suits his style of racing.
"He's feeling well and racing well and I'm confident he'll run really well. He's just got to go there on Friday night and do what he's done in the past and he'll be very hard to beat."

NSW representative Sky Wave, trained by Vic Sultana, is the $3.40 second elect from box seven with Ladbrokes, ahead of WA's West On Augie, prepared by Chris Halse, at $5.50 from box four, with the Thompson kennel's second reserve Poke The Bear at $6.50.

"It's not a bad race," Thompson offered.

"The Adelaide dog, Cairnlea Kenny, will get a nice run from the red with Big Flood in box two, Hasten Slowly is proven at Group 1 level, running second in the Australian Cup, Maurice Minor has run well in Melbourne in the past, Shadale is drawn where he wants to be (six) and Sky Wave, from NSW, is going well, if you can overlook the trial (29.82)."

The Thompsons were part of a Victorian quinella in last year's Distance Grand Final and Jason is predicting the Vics will go one better in 2018, with superstar Tornado Tears, the $1.55 favourite with Ladbrokes, to lead home a host state trifecta.

"Tornado Tears is going to win – he's unbeatable – and I think Rippin' Sam will run second and Dyna Chancer will finish third," Thompson said.

"In another era Rippin' Sam and Dyna Chancer would be dominant; they're just stiff to run into a dog like Tornado Tears. He's an absolute beauty."

It will be a busy weekend of Group racing for the Thompsons, who will also have two runners in Friday night's heats of the Group 2 Sires On Ice Black Top at Ladbrokes Gardens, Despacito (heat 7) and Aston Duke (heat 8), while on Saturday recent SA import Panhandle Slim and Midnight Starlet will line up in the Group 3 Cranbourne Classic.