Six of the best for Dunn
In what may have been her last race day appearance, Lovetodream picked the perfect result when she claimed the Marlborough Summer Cup on a red-letter day for her trainer Robert Dunn and even better day for her driver, John Dunn.
The Dunn stable claimed five wins for the day from six starters while John was in sublime form, winning half-a-dozen races including the feature of the day.
The daughter of Bettor’s Delight is in foal to A Rocknroll Dance and, although it has not been firmly decided, the winning effort on the Waterlea course may have been her final swansong.
‘‘She’s in foal and we’re not sure whether we will race her again or not,’’ trainer Robert Dunn said.
The career of the six-year-old mare hasn’t been plain sailing for her connections with three separate wind operations and screws inserted in a leg over the course of her time on the track.
But she’s rarely gone a bad race and has given her owners; Shirley Cummings, Karen Woodham and Sue Williams plenty to smile about.
‘‘She’s been a great mare considering all the problems she’s had,’’ Dunn said. ‘‘And for her to win a race like this for her owners is just fantastic.’’
Off the back of a torrid pace up in front in the feature, John was able to bide his time before unleashing down centre track to run down Franco Tristan in the shadows of the post.
That made it an impressive five trainings wins for the stable for the day with John in the bike for all of them.
They kicked off in fine fashion when promising maiden, Loveyoutodit won the opening race of the day for the Neumann family, who carried on their success from Nelson and then went another step further when Tyron Bettor’s Ella won later in the day.
“She (Loveyoutodit) has a bit of a future in front her, I think,” John said.
“Hopefully she keeps improving and getting used to being a racehorse and they could have a bit of fun with her.”
Tyron Bettor’s Ella and Summer Wealth were also fresh legs to the meeting having missed the Friday meeting and the freshness showed with both producing impressive performances to win after good battles up the straight.
Diamonds N Cash turned around a slightly disappointing performance on the first day to continue his impressive start to his career.
He has now won three of eight with two minor placings and more than $20,000 in stakes.
John had the last word for the day when he won on Franco Saxon for his father and sister-in-law Craig and Aimee Edmonds.
‘‘She’s been a great mare considering all the problems she’s had.’’
Robert Dunn on Lovetodream