Harness racing: Cups king Dunn eyes up mighty trotting surprise at The Park

Oscar Bonavena, seen here winning the Dominion, faces a second-line draw in the Rowe Cup. Photo / Race Images

The man who knows how to win Rowe Cups is starting to believe his next one might come sooner than expected.

Like at Alexandra Park just after 9.30pm tonight with Mighty Logan.

John Dunn reined Sundees Son to win Auckland’s biggest trotting race in 2019 and 2021, with only Covid canning the 2020 Cup costing him a likely treble.

Tonight, he returns to Alexandra Park with Mighty Logan, who is no Sundees Son just yet but probably won’t have to be.

The heavily-backed trotter led and won the Anzac Cup last Friday when gifted a frontline advantage over key rivals Oscar Bonavena and Muscle Mountain and he gets the same tonight, as the big two fared poorly in the random draw.

Add to that the potential fitness doubts over Bet N Win, who missed that lead-up race last Friday, and all of a sudden Mighty Logan becomes the horse to beat in the Rowe Cup.

“It is getting to the stage where he has to have a good chance,” Dunn says.

“He has the manners and if he settles handy, that gives him a big advantage over Oscar and Muscle Mountain.

“We all know how good Bet N Win is but he missed a race last week, which isn’t easy when you are racing over 3200m, so a lot has gone right for us that hasn’t for other horses.”

Dunn says Mighty Logan always had the potential to be a Cup winner but his improvement, coupled with others’ disadvantages, means his time may come sooner than expected.

Still, he is a nine-win horse up against some more proven stars so will need to produce the same level of performance as last Friday to complete the double.

Either Oscar Bonavena or Muscle Mountain could win without surprising while Bet N Win is talented enough and could sit handy on the markers doing no work, the usual path to 3200m glory at Alexandra Park.

Earlier in the night, Dunn will partner Ya Rite Darl (Race 7, No 6) in the Woodlands Trotting Oaks against her own stablemate Frazzled and favourite Habibti Pat.

Habibti Pat was the best of the three in the Derby last Friday but if Ya Rite Darl can use her gate speed to cross to the lead, that will be a huge help.

The stable also has a handy filly in Cool For Cats (R8, No 1) in the Delightful Lady Final and her tactics could be crucial as, if she leads, then Australian visitor Ripples could get the race-winning trail but if she doesn’t hold the lead, it becomes advantage to Alecto.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald‘s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.