By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk
It could be racing’s perfect marriage.
Dunstan Horse Feeds has just secured the eighth and final slot for the $600,000 TAB Trot at Cambridge’s Night of Champions on April 4 – and all they need is a horse.
And Queensland trainer Graham Dwyer reckons in Not As Promised he has the horse for the big race – and all he needs is a slot.
So could be a deal be done?
Not so fast, says Dunstan’s founder/director Dave Smith.
“We have a couple on our radar,” says Smith, “without giving anything away.”
“Now this has been put together we will work on what we decide to do.”
Dunstan has been involved in the Night of Champions before. They had Mach Shard in the $1m The Race last year, with Kango and Pembrook Playboy (scratched) before that.
Dunstan will also have the naming rights for the Group 2 Dunstan Horse Feeds Trotters Flying Mile a week before the TAB Trot at Cambridge on Friday, March 28.
“Dunstan is a wonderful supporter of the industry and it’s great to have them on board again and as part of our key event,” says Cambridge Raceway’s Chief Executive Dave Branch.
While Smith is open minded about his trotter of choice for the big race, Dwyer is confident his star five-year-old is up to the job.
“He’s a serious horse who’s on the up,” Dwyer told Australian harness racing pundit Paul Campbell, “I think the distance (2200 metres) would suit him and if we got in we’d give it a shake.”
Not As Promised did not race from November 2023 to January this year because of injury but has come back with a roar, winning five of seven starts at Albion Park in Brisbane.
He’s raced in this country once before, with a fourth behind Sunnys Sister in the 2023 Group 1 New Zealand Trotting Derby at Addington. Overall he’s won 14 from 23 starts
Smith meanwhile says they are no rush to confirm their runner as he prepares to take on the likes of Oscar Bonavena, Muscle Mountain, Bet N Win and The Locomotive.
“We believe the winner is still out there,” he says.
