WA’s sole 2018 Inter Dominion representative Galactic Star has arrived in Melbourne ahead of the Saturday night’s opening round of heats at Melton.
The Greg and Skye Bond-trained pacer won a heat of last year’s Inter Dominion series at Bunbury, before he went on to finish fifth in the final.
Galactic Star travelled to Melbourne overnight and arrived this morning, with Greg Bond reporting the six-year-old travelled well and was in good order ahead of light work today.
Galactic Star has had two starts for two wins this campaign, the Don Randall Memorial at Pinjarra and the Pat Cranley Memorial 11 days later at Gloucester Park.
He has drawn barrier four for Saturday night’s heat, which will be the second of three Inter Dominion heats on the night.
Todd McCarthy has the drive on Galactic Star in the early part of the series, with regular driver Ryan Warwick remaining in Perth to drive in local feature races.
Mach Doro and Franco Nelson have drawn barriers one and two respectively in Galactic Star’s heat, while the in-form pair San Carlo and Shadow Sax are on the back row in barrier 10 and 12 respectively.
WATCH: Galactic Star's Last Start Win Here
Greg Bond said Galactic Star deserved to have another chance in this year’s Inter Dominion series, following his game performance in last year’s series.
“We are taking a more seasoned horse,” he said.
“We thought he’d done enough last year in the Inters and he ran fifth in a Victoria Cup last year.
“He’s probably still learning his trade.
“He won a heat of the Inters last year and horses can sometimes take a while to get used to that level of racing.”
Bond said he expected the Melton track would suit Galactic Star’s style of racing.
“At that grade, he’s probably a little bit of an opportunist,” he said.
“He’s a good gaited horse, he gets around Gloucester Park and obviously they are 1000m tracks over there.
“If anything, it suits him a bit more because he can wind up and the runs will come with the sprint lanes at Melton.”
Cruz Bromac occupies the top line of TABtouch’s Inter Dominion market at $4.20, with the Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen-trained pacer to start from barrier four in the third of Saturday night’s heats.
Tiger Tara is the star attraction in the opening heat of the night, where he starts from barrier four.
The Kevin Pizzuto-trained pacer was brave in running second in the New Zealand Cup on November 13, before an unplaced run in the New Zealand Free-For-All and he’s now a $6 chance for the Inter Dominion.
The second round of Inter Dominion heats take place on December 4 at Ballarat, ahead of the final round of heats on December 8 at Cranbourne and the final to take place back at Melton on December 15.
Tim Walker