Stunin Cullen took his stake earnings to over $1 million with a track-record win in the group one $A125,000 Ballarat Cup on Saturday night.
Stunin Cullen, owned by Eddie Griffin, of Dunedin and Terry McDonald, of Christchurch, had won the Central Otago and Northern Southland Cups at his previous two starts.
Trained by Tim Butt and driven by Anthony Butt, Stunin Cullen joins Just An Excuse (2004) and Yulestar (2001) as New Zealand-trained winners of the Ballarat Cup.
Stunin Cullen ran the 2710m (mobile) in a 1.57.3 rate, a second better than the mile rate by Safari in 2008.
His next assignment is the $A425,000 Hunter Cup next Saturday.
Stunin Cullen survived a protest from John Caldow, who drove the runner-up, Power Of Tara, who was beaten a head.
The protest was on the grounds of the whip action of Butt.
The protest was dismissed.
Drivers are required to hold the reins when using the whip and not use the whip with a free hand.
"It's my fault. I hadn't driven over here for a while and forgot about the new rules," Butt said.
Our Chain Of Command entered calculations for the Hunter Cup when recording his seventh successive win at Ballarat.
He led throughout a $20,000 2710m race when driven by trainer Dean Braun.
Bondy won the same race last year before success in the Hunter Cup.
Our Chain Of Command rated 2.03.6. He won the group one Tasmanian Cup at his previous start.
The son of Julius Caesar has won seven of his eight starts since being sold out of the Ashburton stable of Terry McMillan.
Our Chain Of Command won four of his 20 starts in NZ for breeder Mrs B.H. Gye.
I Can Doosit won a heat of the Australasian Trotting Championship at Ballarat in a 2.07.3 rate for the 2710m.
Let Me Thru won the other heat in a 2.05.3 rate.
Highview Tommy, a stablemate of I Can Doosit with Mark Purdon and Grant Payne, won the Invercargill Cup on Saturday.
He gave reinsman Blair Orange his third win in the race.
Orange won with The Tough Nut in 2000 and Harnetts Creek in 2004.
Abettorpunt returned the fastest time of three Victoria Derby heat winners at Melton on Friday night.
Abettorpunt recorded a 1.56.3 rate for the 2240m (mobile) compared with 1.57.3 for Sushi Sushi and 1.59.7 for The Gold Ace.
