Dunns bank 300th winner

Talented pacer Who’s Delight (Bettor’s Delight) delivered Woodend Beach harness racing trainers Robert and Jenna Dunn with their 300^th win when he took out the Woodlands Winning Weanling Mobile Pace at Addington tonight.

Driver Gavin Smith took the four year old gelding straight to the top from the nine draw and he hung on to beat Helium by three quarters of a length. The win was the horse’s eighth in thirty starts.

“He’s got his quirks but he’s a pretty cool horse. It was a wee bit of a drop back for him. He’s been racing the likes of Mighty Looee and Beach Ball. Being in front is his favourite role because he’s a very good stayer and just keeps running. He’s got a great motor and the team’s done a great job to get him to where he is. I remember seeing him at the beach early on and he was a handful,” Smith told Nigel Armstrong of Harness Racing Unhinged.

Tony Barron and Gordon McKenzie are part of the group that bred Who’s Delight, and they also share in the ownership of Queen Elida (Love You) which ran second to Oscar Bonavena (Majestic Son) at Cambridge last night. She’ll compete in the $600,000 TAB Trot in a weeks time.

Robert and Jenna began training together in the 2021 season and their first winner was Somekindawonderful (Somebeachsomewhere) at Addington in August of that year.

In their third season of training, the partnership which has bases in Pukekohe and Woodend Beach, won a New Zealand Trainers Premiership with 115 winners.

Their 300 wins include ten Group One races with Sundees Son (5), Sunnys Sister (2), Tyro Eros (1), Nazareth (1) and Highgrove (1).

The win by Who’s Delight and later in the night by Tyron Eros puts senior partner Robert one step closer to reaching a major milestone of 2,000 winners. He’s trained 1,692 in his own right, five with Paul Black and now 301 with his daughter-in-law Jenna.

When he reaches that milestone he’ll joins Barry Purdon (2,686), Mark Purdon (2,590) and Roy Purdon (2,237) in the 2000 + winners club.

Meanwhile Chase a Dream (Captaintreacherous) bounced back from a below par run in the Northern Derby to win the second heat of the Garrards Sires’ Stakes Three Year Old series.

In a field of six driver Natalie Rasmussen sat back with Harrison John making the pace. With 900 metres to run she moved to sit outside the leader. Once Rasmussen removed the plugs halfway down the straight, he levelled up and passed Harrison John to win by a neck. It was the colt’s seventh win.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink