Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Evergreen pacer Galactic Star still enjoys racing as a ten-year-old, and he ended a 19-month drought and a losing sequence of 29 when he set the pace and won convincingly from six-year-olds The Code Breaker and The Mustang in the 2536m Beau Rivage For Xmas In July Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
This victory lacked the hype that surrounded him in his heyday when he contested two Interdominion championships and finished second in two Fremantle Cups, behind My Field Marshal and Chicago Bull.
He won a 2100m Inters heat in Bunbury in November 2017, was third in a 2130m heat at Gloucester Park and finished fifth behind Lazarus in the final. At the Inters in Victoria a year later Galactic Star won a heat, was second and third in two other heats and finished an unlucky fifth behind Tiger Tara in the final.
The New Zealand-bred gelding by champion sire Bettors Delight now has amassed $747,894 in stakes from 33 wins and 37 placings from 129 starts. His past 29 wins have been for champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond and owners Team Bond and Rob Gartrell’s Running Camel Pty Ltd.
“He is only a little horse who loves racing, and his legs are fantastic,” said Gartrell. “We spoke about retiring him six months ago, but we continued racing him simply because he loves racing.
“It is unusual for us to keep old horses going. Another was Our Jimmy Johnstone who was retired as a 12-year-old (with earnings of $802,399 from 32 wins and 55 placings from 157 starts).
“We had a massive offer to sell Galactic Star to the United States about 18 months ago, but we declined the offer because he is such a favourite.”
Galactic Star was the $2.70 favourite from the No. 1 barrier on Friday night, and Deni Roberts handled him with aplomb, setting a moderate pace before he dashed home over the final quarters in 28.7sec. and 28.2sec. His main targets in the coming months will be the $50,000 Winter Cup over 2536m and the $50,000 August Cup over the same distance on August 25.