The horse a lot of Queenslanders are talking about is THE WHITE HOPE coming out of the Matt Dunn Stable. He has run great time each start and was completely dominant on Melbourne Cup day where he destroyed a decent field running good time. He has won his last three races by a combined 11 lengths.
Matt was telling me it is hard to match him up with a work partner and that he is the standout in the stable at the moment. He will run in a couple of weeks over 1400m and if the horse was to improve again there will be serious thought given to the Magic Millions Cup (1400m) in January. It is a big step but he is progressive.
The horse is managed by Neil Jenkinson, one of the best bloodstock man around (and has found the horses I have a share in) but is bred and owned by Glenlogan stud. Steve Morley caught up with Matt for his own interview lately. Here is the interview and article from Glenlogan:
The Mathew Dunn prepared 4YO first caught the eye of racegoers when breaking his maiden status in devastating fashion back in April of this year – winning by an untouched 4.5 lengths and registering a time under 1 minute 10 seconds for the 1200m. Rarely do maiden gallopers achieve such a feat, and an offer to sell to Hong Kong immediately thereafter saw the horse undergo a series of vet examinations. However, every good horse has a story to tell and this may well be the start of The White Hope’s, as the sale did not eventuate and the Bradbury’s Luck youngster was sent to the paddocks of Glenlogan Park for a spell.
Returning to the racetrack in mid-October, Dunn sent his charge to Ipswich for his next assignment, where he again treated this outing as little more than a barrier trial – cruising away from his opponents under a tight hold and once again lowering the 1 minute 10 second barrier for the 6 furlongs. In fact, with a time of 1 minute 9.82 seconds, The White Hope came within 0.02 seconds of lowering a 17 year-old class record that he could have no doubt smashed if he had been asked to extend in any way by regular jockey Glen Colless.
Buoyed with the confidence of this knowledge, Dunn raised the bar a few pegs a couple of weeks later on Melbourne Cup Day at Doomben, and pitted him against some much more experienced opposition. However, even though the field was stronger and the distance longer, the race was never in question as the big, bold, front-running grey jumped straight to the lead before careering away from the field in the 1350m event.
“He is a very exciting horse that is for sure,” Dunn beamed not long after the event. “He has got a terrific cruising speed and then he has the ability to quicken off that pace when he needs to. And not many horses can do that!
“He has only been beaten once in his 4 starts – and that was on debut when he got knocked from pillar to post and had to deal with a Heavy track rating after rain came during the day.
“However, his results are not at all surprising as we knew we had something a bit special after the first few times we galloped him and he was able to cruise beside much more experienced, city winning horses.
“He would be 17 hands high and at the moment he is just bigger, stronger and faster than anything we can put alongside him.
“He is the type of horse that makes you bounce out of bed in the mornings that is for sure.
“However, we won’t get carried away at this stage, as we know he has got a long way to go and we will just keep asking him to take the next step each time.”
Jockey Glen Colless said Tuesday’s impressive effort was not much more than a good, solid training gallop.
“Because we drew the outside barrier I did hunt him along for the first few hundred metres,” Glen said. “However as soon as we got to the fence he just dropped the bit and relaxed beautifully underneath me.
“At about the 600m I could feel he was doing it all well within himself so I just released the brakes a touch and he quickened the tempo straight away.
“All the others were immediately off the bit but he was still just trucking along on the steel – after that it was just a matter of steering him to the line.”
The most likely next outing for The White Hope is at Eagle Farm on Saturday, November 24 over 1400m.
**You can check out more on Matt at his website http://matthewdunnracing.com.au/
**We will be focusing a bit more on QLD and a few more interviews now the carnival has wrapped up. If anyone would like me to try and find out the latest with a particular horse or up and comer just email through the website. I may not be able to get all requests done, but I will do my best where possible.
