Classy sprinter Elson Boy is chasing a seventh consecutive win and impress potential Kosciuszko slot holders at Randwick

Talented country sprinter and Kosciuszko hopeful, Elson Boy, is looking to claim a season high eighth win and seventh in succession when he heads to Royal Randwick on Saturday.

Elson Boy, the “Dubbo Dasher”, can impress claims for a start in the $2 million The Kosciuszko and set a season’s standard if he wins the Catanach’s Jewellers Handicap (1200m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

Bush star Elson Boy, trained by Dar Lunn, has won eight races already this season including his last six starts in succession.

Lunn’s stable star won twice at Dubbo and Orange over summer before striking career-best form this year reeling off six straight wins at Dubbo, Coonamble in a Country Championships Qualifier, Narromine (Diggers Cup), Mudgee (Gooree Cup), and metropolitan wins at the Scone stand-alone meeting and Rosehill.

The only other horse to win eight races in Australia this season is Avenue Of Stars, the Gold Coast-trained sprinter, who has won five races on the Gold Coast Poly Track, plus wins at Gatton, Grafton and Murwillumbah.

Elson Boy takes his six straight winning sequence to Randwick with Lunn hopes his underrated four-year-old sprinter can extend the streak.

  

"The boy does it again!"

The final race at Rosehill belongs to Elson Boy, and that’s six wins in a row!@aus_turf_clubpic.twitter.com/V9sE38gwmg

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 15, 2024

“Seven is my lucky number so seven in a row would be great,” Lunn said. “It would be a fairytale story if he can end his season with another win.”

If Elson Boy can score again he will equal the most successive wins by any racehorse in Australia this season.

Western Australian three-year-old Bondi Bubbles won seven races in a row, six at the racing outpost of Esperance Bay before he won the Magic Millions at Pinjarra. His winning run came to an end with back-to-back losses at Perth’s Belmont track last month.

To put Elson Boy’s winning roll into perspective, the Patrick Payne-trained Wings Of Song won six straight including the Group 3 Auraria Stakes and Listed Tasmanian Oaks, and boom Melbourne mare Sea What I See won six races in a row, closing out her season with the Listed Centaurea Stakes.

Affluential has won six races in a row in Victoria, mixing hurdles with staying races on the flat, Janean won six straight in Queensland’s Rockhampton region, Perth filly Twain’s Angel is unbeaten in six starts, and Son Of Bielski is also on a six-race winning run in Darwin.

Champion sprinter Imperatriz won five races on the bounce this season including four at Group 1 level.

Six straight wins!

Well done Wings Of Song - you are a beautiful filly.

An easy winner of the Group 3 Auraria Stakes @RacingSA Morphetville.

She is the second Stakes winner today to carry the DT brand and to have been bred and raised at Twin Hills. pic.twitter.com/KbgTNBCnGb

— Twin Hills Stud (@TwinHillsStud) April 13, 2024

Lunn said Elson Boy had thrived since his Rosehill win three weeks ago and the trainer even flirted with the idea of starting his sprinter in the Listed $200,000 Winter Stakes (1400m) on Saturday.

Instead, the trainer elected to the Benchmark 88 sprint where he can take advantage of apprentice Chelsea Hillier’s 3kg claim and reduce Elson Boy’s impost to 54.5kg.

“I looked at the Winter Stakes but it was definitely a bit tougher,” Lunn said.

“So, I’ve gone with the easy option with him to try and keep his strike-rate going.

“Chelsea rides him again and she knows what is required. I thought she rode him extra well the other day at Rosehill, she rated him so well in front.”

Lunn said Elson Boy had thrived since his Rosehill win so the trainer decided to give the gelding one more start for the season and hopefully boost the sprinter’s chances of gaining a start in The Kosciuszko (1200m) at Royal Randwick’s Everest meeting on October 19.

“This will be his last run for the season, win, lose or draw,” Lunn said.

“We will probably give him three weeks off then we will come back and try and get him to The Kosciuszko.

“He has done a great job to win eight races for the season. He’s the type of horse who really enjoys his training and racing.

“From our base at Dubbo, we have to do a bit of travelling but he’s the ideal horse because once we get him home after a race, he eats up, drinks up and within two days he is bucking his brand off.”

Contemporary beats the well fancied stablemate Selous. pic.twitter.com/h2VYc18WBe

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 12, 2023

Lunn’s confidence received another boost when Elson Boy drew barrier five for the Randwick sprint.

“We haven’t had much luck in the barriers recently but he has finally drawn ‘good’ this Saturday,” Lunn said.

“He has to come back from 1300m to 1200m but the heavy track will make it more like 1300m anyway. He has plenty of gate speed so he should be in the race for a long way.”

Elson Boy’s impressive form surge has him rated as second favourite at $6 in latest TAB Fixed Odds betting behind Godolphin’s Contemporary at $3.70.

Lunn said despite Elson Boy’s outstanding form, he hasn’t exactly been inundated with offers to train from prospective owners.

“I said to my wife just the other day with all the media attention I’ve had with Elson Boy I haven’t been offered another horse,” Lunn said.

“But I only have five in work at the moment because we are building a new stable block at Dubbo.

“Once that’s completed, I will bring another 10-12 horses back into training and that’s about all I can have as I do most of the work myself.”

Originally published as Classy sprinter Elson Boy is chasing a seventh consecutive win and impress potential Kosciuszko slot holders at Randwick