Caption: Champion Victorian trainer Jason Thompson and Typhoon Sammy after the NSW country whirlwind set a new mark during the heats of the Bendigo Cup (Photo: BlueStream Pictures)

Group 1 Melbourne Cup (515m)

Best 64 nominated. Sandown

Heats November 19. Final November 26

$500,000 to the winner

Group 1 Bold Trease (715m)

Best 32 nominated. Sandown

Heats November 19. Final November 26

$105,000 to the winner

By David Brasch

BACK in July, when premier trainer John Dart decided to send Typhoon Sammy to Victoria to race it was with one aim.

\”I knew he had to go to Victoria to race on all those one-turn tracks,\” said John. \”He\’d already shown he was so well suited to that style of racing.\”

Typhoon Sammy, a son of star sire Aston Dee Bee and the Dart-raced and trained Zabaleta, had already set the track record mark on Grafton\’s newly remodelled circuit.

One-turn racing in Victoria appeared right up his alley.

John Dart\’s son Sam, who also owned the mother Zabaleta, races the magnificent looking dog.

John knew there was only one trainer for Typhoon Sammy in Victoria and that was his mate Jason Thompson.

\”I got a phone call around July from a mate in Sydney who advised me to send Typhoon Sammy straight to Jason and he would turn him into a stud dog,\” said John.

Within five races of his Victorian campaign, Typhoon Sammy had gone from country NSW star to a Bendigo track record breaker and now a top chance in the up-coming Group 1 Melbourne Cup.

That is not the opinion of the Dart family, the opinion of punters who have been monitoring his career to date in Victoria, but his new trainer, none other than Jason Thompson.

Who would know better the dog\’s chances in the Melbourne Cup than Thompson, who has trained both Got A Moment and Aston Dee Bee to win recent runnings of the glamour race.

\”The night Typhoon Sammy ran the record at Bendigo, Jason rang to say he would win both the Topgun and Melbourne Cup,\” said John.

\”Not, he would be a great chance in both races … he would win!\”

While Typhoon Sammy had plenty of improvement in him to take on such events, Thompson was high in praise of the dog.

\”He admitted after he ran that record at Bendigo he is a much better dog than he thought he was.

\”Jason told me he has not had a dog like this since Black Magic Opal and he went on to win the Melbourne Cup,\” said John. \”Just making statements like that is not something Thompson is willing to do unless he is supremely confident.\”

Thompson did exactly the same not long after Got A Moment arrived from Queensland in his Victorian kennels.

After just one trial at Sale, he declared to breeder and owner Di Buxton that Got A Moment would win the Melbourne Cup. And she did.

Dart says he had trouble even getting Thompson to find a spot in his kennel for Typhoon Sammy.

\”I first rang him back in July and he was full to the brim,\” he said.

\”Then I rang again a little while later and there was still no room. But, by mid-August he was there.\”

Dart has no doubt Typhoon Sammy will make the transition from one-turn record breaker to two-turn Cup hopeful.

\”He\’s already won in fast time at Albion Park and I know how strong he is,\” he said.

Sam Dart owned Typhoon Sammy\’s mother Zabaleta who won 25 races for $41,000 in stakes.

Melbourne Cup night, as well as staging the running of the Group 1 sprint and the Group 1 Bold Trease, will see a star studded line-up of other feature events on the night at Sandown.

They also include the Group 3 Provincial Plate (515m) worth $25,000 to the winner, the Group 3 Dillon Memorial (595m) worth $25,000, the Listed Cup Night Stayers (715m) worth $15,000, Group 3 Cup Night Sprint (515m) worth $25,000, and the Vic-Bred Maiden (515m) worth $15,000.