Brilliant payoff for polo plan
WHEN Tasmanian thoroughbred trainer Aiden Nunn left Tasmania at the end of January to follow the polo circuit along Australia’s eastern seaboard he also had in tow two of his gallopers that he hoped would help cover expenses while he chased his dream
Both horses, Brilliant Jet and two-year-old Tale of the Fox, have fulfilled their roles with Brilliant Jet winning three and placing once from six starts while Tale of the Fox debuted with a win at Grafton last week.
“The decision to take two of my gallopers with us has been very successful and certainly helped with the costs of travelling around the country,” Nunn said.
Nunn is hoping to make it into the Australian polo team to contest the World Polo Championships in October so for the past five months he has been competing in events in three states honing his skills and trying to impress the national selection panel.
“I’m in the Australian squad of 14 but that will be whittled down to a team of four for the World Cup in October,” Nunn said. “I’d say I’m a 50-50 chance to be selected but it will depend on what sort of team the selectors have in mind.”
The World Polo Championships will be held in Sydney and will comprise teams from Australia, Chile, New Zealand, England, Argentina, Spain and the US.
Meanwhile Nunn is hoping his two gallopers can continue to earn prizemoney in Queens- land, where he will be domiciled until early October at Matthew Dunn’s training complex near Beaudesert.
“Matthew [Dunn] has a really good set-up here at Beaudesert — the horses are really comfortable and I have all the facilities I need to train them without leaving the property.”
Nunn is hoping Brilliant Jet can develop into a major cups horse in Tasmania.
“Brilliant Jet is a very good horse who showed me a lot at home and he has gone to a new level since we’ve been away.
“I’ve gradually stepped him up in distance and he has taken everything in his stride so the plan is to aim him at the Devonport Cup next year and maybe a Launceston Cup.”
Brilliant Jet opened his interstate account in February with a second at Stawell in Victoria and followed up with an impressive win in a benchmark 58 over 1600m at Kilmore 10 days later before the team followed the polo circuit to NSW.
At his next start Brilliant Jet struck a very heavy track at Grafton and was unplaced but Nunn lined him up at the same venue 10 days later on a soft surface and he blitzed the opposition over 1720m.
Brilliant Jet’s latest win was at the Gold Coast last week where he stormed home to win a benchmark 70 race over 1800m at the lucrative price of $15. Nunn took Tale of the Fox to Grafton the next day for the gelding’s debut. The son of Casino Prince had trialled twice at Grafton and despite racing greenly on debut he emerged triumphant, running home his last 600m.
Both horses will be nominated for races at Doomben on Saturday week. Melton trots fields do not appear today because of space restrictions.