Horse of the Year bounces back at South Bay

The saying ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’ rung loud and clear in today’s (Oct. 31) harness racing action at the picturesque South Bay Racecourse with reigning NZ Horse of the Year, Sundees Son (Majestic Son), back to his barnstorming best.

The feature trot on the 10-race programme was the 23rd installment of the Group Three $30,000 South Bay Trotting Cup and with several of the leading chances for the G1 Show Day feature on display, Guy Fawkes looked to have arrived a week early.

Sundees Son vs Bolt For Brilliance (Muscle Hill) always brings with it the promise of fireworks, and the pair were set to meet for the first time since the Rowe Cup thriller at Alexandra Park in May.

They brought contrasting form to today’s assignment with ‘the pride of the north’ having just the one winning start at Alexandra Park prior to heading South, while Sundees Son was looking to get his Dominion campaign back on track after two costly race day errors unearthed a sudden chink in his otherwise galvanized armour.

Once the tapes released, the millionaire trotter looked like a horse on a mission and thanks to a trademark aggressive drive from John Dunn at the outset, Sundees Son lobbed an early advantage being some eight lengths clear of his main rival travelling down the backstraight.

The locally bred and owned Matua Tana (Love You) had found the front from the well fancied Southerner, Smokin Bandar (Monkey Bones), who put his chances of a South Bay Trotting Cup to bed with an uncharacteristic gallop with a little under a mile to run.

Dunn seized the initiative and was soon round pressuring for the lead and with a circuit to run, found himself in his favoured position dictating terms in front.

The Robert & Jenna Dunn trained champion quickly began to apply the pressure to his rivals, scorching down the back straight and negotiating the tight final bend with aplomb. The speed in which Sundees Son can corner is now legendary, and with Dunn giving him his head as they turned for home, it was soon apparent the chasing pack were doing so in vain.

Sundees Son careered away up the Kaikoura straight, winning the Group Three feature comfortably by two lengths from the ever-consistent Midnight Dash (Muscle Hill) and a game Matua Tana a neck back in third.

The 33rd career victory of Sundees Son was up there with some of his brilliant best performances and will fill the camp with confidence for his tilt at a record equaling third Dominion Trot.

The race record time of 2:59.4 gave little hope to anything hoping to make up ground off the marker pegs and Bolt For Brilliance earned a pass mark for his battling fifth some four and a half lengths back after working four wide and being well off his archrival entering the straight.

SUNDEES SON REPLAY

For the owner/breeders of Sundees Son, the result was a sweet one and put to bed some of the misery experienced two years earlier on the track when being wiped out of the race by Matua Tana.

“We were very confident once he found the front, it was a good aggressive drive from John to take any issues out of the race remembering what happened here two years ago.” said Colin Hair.

“They don’t seem to be running on from the back and you need to be handy to win here and he always seems to be at his best when he finds the top and makes the others work.

“It was great to get our first winner at Kaikoura also. We have had a number of starts here with various horses over the years, and after getting knocked over a few years ago it was nice to tick that one off the bucket list. I have a lot of family up here, I’ve got a sister who lives here, and my daughter’s mother is from Kaikoura, so it was nice to get a win at this meeting finally,” he said.

Working his way back to fitness this campaign, Sundees Son has been driven a bit quieter than usual with the desire being not to have given the champ too much of a gut buster early in his Dominion prep.

In some ways, it has possibly been his undoing with both gallops coming back in the field while cruising in the running line, a position he rarely finds himself these days with 800m left to run.

“That’s what John said about those two gallops at Addington, it’s been a long time since he has been in the running line like his last two starts and he is just such a different horse when he is up on the nickel working close to the markers.

“Before the race he looked reasonably quiet and relaxed and his usually self. But when he had full gear on and they put the cart on him he was shaking a wee bit, which is most unlike him. But once he got out for the prelim John said he felt a million dollars.

“The Dominion has obviously been our objective all the way through this year and in effect the challenge has been spacing his races accordingly. We obviously didn’t expect him to gallop twice at Addington and that threw a spanner in the works, but it’s great to back on track heading towards the big one,” said Hair.

Colin and his wife Nancy have the prospect of getting a second winner in the week, with the full sister to Sundees Son, Sunny’s Sister, lining up in a maiden trot at their home track on Friday.

It’s early doors for the two-year-old filly with massive boots to fill. She does however appear to be a chip off the old block having showcased dazzling speed both on track and at the trials.

“She is in on Friday at Rangiora and then from there we will go to Ashburton for the 2YO Fillies Classique over Cup Week.

“Robert is down here at the moment and drove her this morning and he was very impressed. She’s got real speed and has got a motor, she is just inclined to every now and then run out a bit and they are just ironing some of those kinks out of her as we head to some of the bigger targets over the Spring,” he said.

For complete Kaikoura results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink