Sundees Son (NZ)
There are so many layers to the winning performance of Sundees Son in today’s (Friday) Gr.1 $300,000 Renwick Farms Dominion at Addington, Christchurch.
Seriously, where do you start?
Was it the record time? The sheer dominance? The relentless power running? The unflinching tactics? The stable quinella result? Another Australian Pacing Gold Trotting Masters title?
Simply, it was a combination of all of the above.
Scribes and statisticians were left fumbling through record books as they attempted to put into proper perspective the enormity of victory delivered by the Team Dunn (Robert, Jenna & John) prepared trotting star.
The 3200m stand start feature, the biggest event for the trotting gait staged in New Zealand and steeped in history and tradition after first being staged over 100 years ago, it’s a race that has had it all.
Well, so most thought.
Stepping cleanly and landing fourth soon after the tapes released, Sundees Son settled briefly behind Overzealous, Majestic Lavros and Mataderos before working past them all with 2400m left to run.
Rather than set a leisurely tempo through the initial stages of the two-mile feature, Dunn allowed his star performer to roll.
And roll he did.
The lead time was covered in an earnest 2:00.8.
The punter’s elect and defending champion continued to set an energy sapping speed as he cruised through the first half of the final mile.
Sundees Son recorded opening splits of 29.6 and 29.6 seconds.
Young Ben Hope left his midfield trail with emerging star Muscle Mountain and moved around them to park outside Sundees Son with 1000m remaining, but the pressure only intensified.
With Dunn sitting ice cold, Sundees Son was scorching hot as he trotted the third quarter in agonizingly fast 27.7 seconds.
Gaps appeared quickly as rivals dropped off.
At the top of the straight, Sundees Son held a clear advantage while his stablemate Mataderos loomed as the only possible threat.
With Dunn urging him on, driver Blair Orange was doing his best to keep Mataderos in a fluid motion.
At the line, Sundees Son scored by one length over Mataderos while a further ten lengths away in third was Bolt For Brilliance who just edged out another member of Team Dunn in Chief Of Staff.
The last quarter was timed in 28.8 seconds.
The winning time was 3:56.6 – a mile rate of 1:58.9.
Sundees Son completely obliterated his race record he set last year of 4:00.5.
With back-to-back victories, Sundees Son joins the likes of Take A Moment, Lyell Creek and David Moss to achieve the feat in the modern era.
With only leg remaining in the 2021 APG Trotting Masters, the Inter Dominion in Sydney next month, Sundees Son has established unassailable lead over his rivals.
With victories earlier this year in the ANZAC and Rowe Cups in Auckland, the Majestic Son gelding sat atop of the leaderboard with 200 points prior to today.
His tally now sits at 300 points following today’s demolition.
Sundees Son will add another Trotting Masters crown after scoring back in 2019.
