The 6yr-old is a full brother to Stunin Cullen — both are by New Zealand super sire Christian Cullen — but the rigours of group racing might be a touch too far, his trainer, Paul Court, said after yesterday’s tough 1-length victory over Bank Raider and Provocative Prince.
Stunin Dude has now won two of his five starts at Oamaru, but do not expect to see him back there next month for the group 3 Hannon Memorial.
"That’s probably a bit too much for him, but we’ll just pick and choose our way along," Court said.
"There’s no reason to give him a rest yet — he’s still racing really well and holding his condition.
"He’s been racing really well. He showed today he can do a little bit of work too and still get home."
Driver Blair Orange improved early in the 2600m race from the 10m mark to have a look for the lead, but then ducked into the trail behind the Matthew Williamson-driven Provocative Prince when the opportunity presented itself.
"I thought the lead would be be there but it wasn’t, but Matty came back around and everyone ended up where they wanted to be," Orange said.
Orange did not wait for the passing lane, instead peeling off at the 300m to make his run.
"I could see Matty was scrubbing his one up and I thought the sweepers were coming, so I got out early so there would be no hard-luck stories."
"He’s a handy little horse without being a superstar."
The stars in the training ranks yesterday were Woodend Beach trainers Greg and Nina Hope, who prepared three winners on the nine-race card.
A G’s White Socks got the ball rolling for the husband-and-wife team, winning on debut with plenty to spare.
"He’s quite tough and a beautiful horse," Greg Hope said.
"We’ll probably put him aside now and give him a bit of a let-up because he only just qualified a fortnight ago. He’ll end up going on and becoming a nice horse."
The half-brother to former open-class pacer Power Of Tara caused anxious moments after the race when he was spooked on the way back to the stables and bolted on driver Matthew Williamson, who was eventually able to calm him down.
The Hopes were back in the birdcage after the c1 trot, courtesy of My Amour.
They later added a third win with Bettor Buy It, providing Mosgiel junior driver Rory McIlwrick with his first win since June, after he sat out the last month of the 2015-16 season to retain his junior drivers’ licence.
The good breeding of A G’s White Socks was outdone by Nicaea Franco, when she also won on debut in the 2000m c0 mares mobile pace after clearly looking flat on the turn.
The daughter of great sire Falcon Seelster is out of former top mare Nearea Franco, who counts the 2008 Harness Jewels 4yr-old diamond among her 11 victories.
"She’s just been a really slow-maturing horse," driver Craig Thornley said.
"She’s always shown a lot at home but she needed a bit of time.
"She showed a bit of her mother’s toughness today. She had to be be tough to win today after the work she did so it was a really pleasing effort."
