Game changing Sundon

When Son E (Sundon) started at the Winton harness racing track on Thursday he was one of the last Sundons to race in this country.

Seeing Sundon’s name in the racebook sparked memories of the fabulous game changing job this great sire did for this country.

He was bred by Sir Roy McKenzie in North America and was born there in1986.

Once he started racing in New Zealand under the guidance of Fred Fletcher his impact on the racing scene was immediate and impressive.

At two, Sundon won 11 straight, winning 17 of his first 18 starts. His unbeaten sequence of 14 wins was a record at the time until being surpassed by Lyell Creek (20 wins) and Courage under Fire (24).

At the end of his racing career Sundon had won twenty seven races including the G2 New Zealand Two Year Old Trotting Stakes, the G2 Northern Trotting Derby and the G1 Dominion Handicap.

He was named the Two Year Old Trotter of the Year in 1987/1988, the Three Year Old Trotter of the Year in 1988/1989 and Trotter of the Year in 1990/199.

He last raced in 1992 before embarking on an outstanding career in the breeding barn at Roydon Lodge Stud at Weedons.

As a sire his impact was immediate.

Two year old Sunny Mac was his first winner at Ashburton on Boxing Day 1995 trained by Craig Edmonds. He beat another son of Sundon, Sunseeker, by one and a half lengths. Sunseeker went on to win three races as a two year old.

Looking at the stats, Sundon’s top three stake earners in New Zealand have been One Over Kenny $811,194, Master Lavros $602,684 and Springbank Richard $572,370. His biggest winners are Moment Of Truth 29, One Over Kenny 26 and Some Direction 25.

In all he’s sired 32,069 trotting starters in New Zealand who won 3,101 races and $32,097,817 in stakes.

Trotters by Sundon have won four Interdominion Trotting Finals, nine New Zealand Trotting Derby’s, four New Zealand Trotting Oaks, eight Dominion Handicaps and six Rowe Cups. Some sort of record.

The fastest Sundon in New Zealand is Marcoola which trotted a mile in 1-53.8 when winning at Ashburton in October 2019.

Phil Williamson has trained the most Sundons to win with 50, from Murray Edmonds 29 and Michelle Wallis and or Michelle Wallis and Bernie Hackett with 27. Others to have success with the stock of Sundon were Richard Brosnan 16, Nathan Williamson 15, Derek Balle 14, Fred Fletcher 14 and Mike Austin 14.

He was named stallion of the Year on four occasions 2002/2003, 2004 /2005, 2006/2007 and 2009/2010 when he was competing for the title among great pacing sires like In The Pocket, Holmes Hanover and Christian Cullen.

Sundon was the country’s leading trotting sire for 14 years in a row (2001-14). In comparison, Bettor’s Delight has been the top pacing sire for the last 13 seasons.

The son of Arndon crossed well with most mares.  Moment Of Truth was out of Now’s The Moment (Yankee Jolter) One Over Kenny dam was out of Francis Jay Bee (Pointer Hanover) and Some Direction was out of Look (Gekoj).

However his biggest success came from horses out of mares by Gee Whiz II (107 winners), Chiola Hanover (82), Game Pride (73) and Armbro Invasion (33).

Sundon sired the first four home in the 2009 Interdominion Trotters Final – Sundon’s Gift, One Over Kenny, Whatsundermykilt and Sundon’s Tiavon. A notable feat.

Sundon mares have created their own legacy. He’s the dam sire of Sundees Son (34), Sovereignty (28), Stent (23) and Monbet (21).

Sundon died in 2015 at the age of 29 after suffering from laminitis and arthritis. But he’ll be remembered for many years to come as a stallion that injected speed into the trotting breed not only in this country, but also in Australia.

It’ll be interesting to see how one of his best sons Marcoola, fares at stud in the next few years.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink