Racing: Sundees Son can melt Aussies

Sundees Son winning Dominion at Addington.

Champion trotter Sundees Son is about to be given his shot at Australian opposition and will head north for a surprise campaign before crossing the Tasman.

The record-smashing Dominion winner returned to the trials at Ashburton yesterday, as his summer is about to get a lot busier than originally intended.

He took on fellow Group 1 winners Heavyweight Hero and Five Wise Men in an elite three-trotter trial and the three hit the line together, with the official result a dead-heat between Heavyweight Hero and Sundees Son, with Five Wise Men right alongside.

"He trotted well and did everything we wanted," said driver John Dunn.

The reason Sundees Son was trialling yesterday was because Team Dunn will send him north to contest the Greenlane Cup at Alexandra Park on December 31, when he will clash with Bolt For Brilliance to add some real glamour to the reshaped New Year's Eve meeting.

He could then contest a mobile 2200m at Cambridge on January 13 as his lead-up to his first Australian trip, that race probably now preferred over a 1700m mobile at Cambridge on January 7.

"We will confirm it all after he races up north but the plan is now to take him to Victoria," says Dunn.

"So if he races well up north, he can go over for the Dullard Cup and the Great Southern Star."

The Dullard is worth A$50,000 at Melton on January 29, while the Great Southern Star has two A$50,000 heats and a A$300,000 final on the same night, February 4, also at Melton.
That is the night before the Hunter Cup meeting, where New Zealand Cup winner Copy That will fly the Kiwi flag.

Sundees Son has never raced in Australia, and while undoubtedly the best trotter in Australasia, the Great Southern Star will provide a unique challenge because he has been most vulnerable in sprint races against natural leaders such as Majestic Man.

The latter heads back to Victoria with caretaker trainer Anthony Butt after his Inter Dominion second, and while not as talented as Sundees Son, he is ideally suited to the fast twitch racing around the Melton track smaller than Sundees Son is used to.

But Sundees Son looks sounder and has trotted more squarely in his last two starts than probably at any other stage of his career, and when in that state, he has the gate speed to adapt to Australian racing.

That is why the 2200m race at Cambridge on January 13 could be a perfect dress rehearsal, as it is the closest thing New Zealand has to a sprint race around Melton in track size and racing style.

While Majestic Man will be waiting for his old nemesis in Victoria, whether Bolt For Brilliance, who was being considered for the same races, heads there now may depend on how his two clashes with Sundees Son over the New Year period go.

There are also A$50,000 and A$100,000 feature trots at Melton in the three weeks after the Great Southern Star. So the New Zealand trotters could race for A$550,000 at Melton in a month before returning home to race for another $450,000 at home in the autumn, giving them more than A$1 million in targets in four months.

If the Dunns elect to leave Sundees Son in Victoria for the two races after the Great Southern Star, he will need a caretaker trainer and new driver.

That's because John Dunn will have to return home the morning after the GSS and complete a week's home isolation to be able to drive at Alexandra Park's new mega meeting on February 12, as well as attend the yearling sales at Karaka on February 13.