Sundees Son (NZ)
He’s done it again!
And just like that, we have a Trotting Master.
Fresh from his brilliant victory last week in the ANZAC Cup, rising star Sundees Son has dominated his rivals to claim his second Gr.1 feature with another faultless display to take the $150,000 Re-Harvest Rowe Cup at Alexandra Park, Auckland.
Entering the final legs of the 2018/19 Australian Pacing Gold Trotting Masters, the title was wide open with Australian mare Dance Craze leading the race with 160 points but connections decided against a trip to Auckland and that left a number of live chances vying to be crowned the premier performer in the southern hemisphere.
Heading north with a growing reputation, the Robert and John Dunn prepared trotter has only solidified his claims amongst the best ‘down under’ following his Group One double within the space of seven days.
The four-year-old has displayed great versatility, winning from the stand and mobile starts while proving he can win at varying distances.
Sundees Son was slick last week at the 2200m while showcasing his brute strength in tonight’s 3200m marathon.
Starting from the second-line, the Majestic Son gelding stepped safely and settled into a comfortable early rhythm while many of rivals challenged for the early lead including Majestic Man followed by Dominion winner Marcoola and then Massive Metro eventually settled into the lead role.
Early breaks came from Destiny Jones, Forget The Price Tag, Temporale and then Monty Python.
Soon after, defending Rowe Cup champion Speeding Spur went on the attack and took the lead with 2100m remaining.
The lead time was covered in 2:05.9.
With the speed being set by Speeding Spur, there was little change in order as Josh Dickie was allowed to dictate terms with the North American bound star.
The move from John Dunn with Sundees Son came with just over a lap to run and he quickly worked around the bulk of the field before challenging Speeding Spur for the premier position.
The first half of the final mile was covered in sectionals of 32.2 and 30.2 seconds.
And Sundees Son was in the driver’s seat after taking the lead with approximately 950m left to run.
Heading down the back straight, Sundees Son was firmly in control while many of his key rivals were locked away on the inside.
The third quarter was covered in 29.8 seconds.
Entering the home straight, Sundees Son hit top stride and opened up a nice lead over Speeding Spur while Lemond, Habibi Inta, Majestic Man and Destiny Jones chased valiantly.
Both Massive Metro and Ronald J galloped in the home straight.
At the line, Sundees Son was clearly superior and defeated Speeding Spur by 2.5 lengths with a further half-length back to the unlucky race favourite Majestic Man in third.
The final section was covered in 28.5 seconds.
The overall time was 4:06.2 with the winning mile rate covered in 2:03.8 – well outside of the race record set by Stent three years ago at 4:03.6 (2:02.4).
“He’s just getting better all the time, he’s right in the zone and he felt very good at every stage and finished off very impressively.” Winning driver John Dunn said.
The victory catapulted Sundees Son into first place on the Australian Pacing Gold Trotting Masters leaderboard with 200 points and becomes the only dual winner throughout the APG Trotting Masters season.
