Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Pint-sized pacer Galactic Star has always basked in the limelight with his brilliance, consistency and versatility, and now the rising nine-year-old is firmly on target to have another crack at the rich Fremantle and WA Pacing Cups in January.
Prepared by leading trainers Greg and Skye Bond and driven by Dylan Egerton-Green, Galactic Star ($2.80) notched his 32ND victory at his 99TH start when he led for the first 450m and then sat behind the pacemaker and $1.90 favourite Mighty Conqueror before sprinting home strongly to beat that star pacer by just under a length at a 1.56.7 rate over 2536m in the $25,000 The West Australian Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The evergreen Bettors Delight gelding now has amassed $706,427 from his 32 wins and 31 placings.
He is no newcomer to the big stage, having competed in the final of the Interdominion championship twice and being prominent in the Fremantle and WA Pacing Cups in recent years.
Galactic Star won a 2100m Interdominion heat at Bunbury’s Donaldson Park in December 2017 before finishing fifth in the final at Gloucester Park, won by Lazarus.
Then, in December 2018 Galactic Star contested the Interdominion championship series in Victoria, winning a 2242m heat at Melton, finishing third in a 1710m heat at Ballarat and second in a 2555m heat at Cranbourne before finishing a most unlucky sixth behind Tiger Tara in the 2760m final at Melton.
He was contesting the early lead in the final when he met with severe interference, broke into a gallop and dropped back to last before running home powerfully, out wide, to finish in sixth place.
Galactic Star has finished second in the past two Fremantle Cups (behind My Field Marshal in January 2019 and behind Chicago Bull last December). He also performed strongly when fourth behind Vultan Tin, Chicago Bull and Mighty Conqueror in the WA Pacing Cup last December.
In the previous WA Pacing Cup in January 2020, Galactic Star finished fifth in a race in which his stablemates Mighty Conqueror, Vampiro and Our Jimmy Johnstone filled the first three placings.
Mighty Conqueror is also being set for the big Cups in January. A winner at 20 of his 44 starts, he performed soundly when second to Galactic Star on Friday night when having his first start for eleven weeks.