By Michael Guerin
John Dunn admits he and Triple G probably can’t beat hot favourite Don’t Stop Dreaming in tonight’s Garrards $150,000 Sires’ Stakes Final but he still has to have a plan to try.
And for Dunn that plan means trying to get in front of the star colt and stay there.
Don’t Stop Dreaming dominated many of tonight’s rivals in a heat of this series last Friday and moved into red hot territory when arch rival Merlin was scratched from tonight’s 1980m race with a hoof abscess.
That leaves horses like Sooner The Better (1), Sinbad (5) and Triple G (3) as the most likely dangers, if any, to the favourite and Dunn says while it is tempting to try and lead then hand to Don’t Stop Dreaming with the aim of running second that isn’t his first instinct.
“I don’t know whether we can beat the favourite but I like to go forward and not hand up,” says Dunn.
“I don’t think I can beat Sooner The Better off the gate but I’d be keen to go forward and try and get the lead off Sooner The Better and if I was able to do that I’d stay there.
“That is how we like to drive, be aggressive and give ourselves a chance but whether we can even do that I don’t know. But that is what I’d like to do.”
Triple G is one of the more untapped three-year-olds in the country and Dunn thinks he will continue to improve and develop into a NZ Derby horse later in the year.
But he did lead with Don’t Stop Dreaming on his back three starts ago and the latter easily blew past him in the straight.
So while the reality is, regardless of tactics, Don’t Stop Dreaming will probably still win, the early determination to get forward could decide the placings and exotics, with Sooner The Better’s driver Scott Phelan holding the early aces.
Sooner The Better has been very consistent at the highest level and if he can hold the lead and then hand up not only can he run second but Triple G’s stablemate Charlie Brown could end up three back in the inside and be a Top 4 chance.
“I actually don’t mind the one on the second line draw for him, I think it gives him a chance of getting good money,” says Dunn of Charlie Brown.
The Dunn stable, which is leading the premiership, also has two chances in the $90,000 Hydroflow Country Cups Championship and John says his drive Heisenberg is a good each way chance.
“He keeps going good races without any luck and while this is a good field he isn’t too badly placed so I think he has a real chance.”
