Cairns racing: Son of Snitzel storms to victory

He didn’t quite live up to his name and clock 100 mile an hour, but Dunatun – pronounced ‘done a ton’ – was fast enough when winning on return at Cairns Jockey Club.

He didn’t quite live up to his name and clock 100 mile an hour, but Dunatun – pronounced ‘done a ton’ – was fast enough when winning on return at Cairns Jockey Club.

Ridden by Nathan Day, the Stephen Massingham-trained son of Snitzel was wedged between Ashton Blair and race favourite Higher Realm behind the leaders before the turn in the sixth race at Cannon Park on Friday.

The 1250m suited the gelding to the ground in his first start since September as he came with a barnstorming run down the straight to overcome Final Warning in the last strides.

“He’s been working well, so we expected him to go well, but naturally it’s always hard to win so he done a good job to win first up,” Massingham said.

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“We scratched him the other day from a wet track, which turned out to be a blessing.”

The trainer said the jury was still out on what the future held for the six-year-old gelding.

“We’ll just try and win a couple more races with him,” Massingham said.

“I don’t know if he’s going to be a carnival horse, but you never know.

“He’s got plenty of improvement left in him, but we’ll just pick a race for him in three of four weeks and go from there.”

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Dunatun was purchased by a group of Far North-based owners, including Cairns Jockey Club president and long-time racing identity Tom Hedley, from Hawkesbury trainer Garry White last year and finished second in his first North Queensland run at Townsville in July.

The horse had four wins from 34 starts in New South Wales before to making the trip north, and has missed the placings just once since, with two wins.

“We give him four or five runs last preparation and tipped him out and brought him back in and he’s settled in really well this time,” Massingham said. “He’s been really good around the barn and well behaved.

“Tom bought him up and we were hoping to win a couple of races with him, he’s done that now, so it would be good to win a few more with him.”

Dunatun’s win was Massingham’s third at Cannon Park on Friday.

■ Gordonvale Turf Club will host a five-race non-TAB meeting on Saturday. The first race jumps at 1.50pm.

The meeting will be the first of three for the club in 2021.

Originally published as Cairns racing: Son of Snitzel storms to victory