Sundees Son makes it an Addington hat-trick

‘‘I don’t think we will have another one like him.’’ Driver John Dunn on Sundees Son

Sundees Son has been hailed as a ‘‘true champion’’ after winning his third Dominion Handicap in a row with a stirring finish in the Show Day spectacle at Addington in Christchurch.

‘‘He must have a massive ticker,’’ said driver John Dunn, after Sundees Son came back off the canvas to down the second favourite Muscle Mountain by a long head.

‘‘He’s a people’s horse now, he’s an unbelievable horse to be associated with. I don’t think we will have another one like him.’’

Sundees Son had to be a champion to win this $300,000 Group I race over 3200m. Dunn had him outside leader Muscle Mountain after about 600m, before kicking up to lead with about 1800m to go. He then had to endure a brief challenge from Oscar Bonavena in the windy conditions.

The pace had been on and once they turned into the home straight it was a matter of whether he could withstand the inevitable challenge from Muscle Mountain, driven by Ben Hope. It looked over with 100m to go as Muscle Mountain levelled up and appeared to head Sundees Son, but the favourite rallied with one final dig.

‘‘He was out on his feet at the furlong ... to dig deep like that he is a true champion,’’ said Dunn.

Sundees Son joined Lyell Creek as a three-time winner of the Dominion, but his are in consecutive years, whereas Lyell Creek won in 1999, 2000 and 2004.

Sundees Son is trained by John’s father Robert and John’s wife Jenna at Woodend Beach in Canterbury. The horse is owned by Colin and Nancy Hair.

It was a big race for the Dunns, with stable horses Five Wise Men and Aardiebythehill finishing third and fourth.

Robert Dunn said it was one of the best races he had seen in a long time. ‘‘He got standing applause from the crowd – you don’t see that too often.’’

Sundees Son won the race in 3mins 58.4sec, 1.8sec slower than his record time last year, but understandable given the strong winds during the race.

One of New Zealand’s best-performed pacers in recent years, Self Assured, made up for some indifferent spring form with a thrilling victory in the NZ Pacing Free-For-All.

Driver Mark Purdon, who cotrains the horse with Hayden Cullen, judged his tactics perfectly, biding his time at the back of the field before launching a blistering finish. He just won from the game Australian visitor Majestic Cruiser and Old Town Road.