Dundonnell Leads Home a Gibson 1-2 in the Sprint Cup

Dundonnell has mostly battled since his purchase by Hong Kong interests a few years back, but perseverance paid off for the former Juddmonte runner when he upset a good field of local short-trackers in the Sprint Cup. 

Trained for Khalid Abdullah’s operation in England by Roger Charlton, Dundonnell won the G3 Acomb S. in 2012 and was third to Toronado (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) in the 2013 G3 Craven S. before adding a victory in the Listed King Charles II S. He was sixth of nine to Dawn Approach (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) in the G1 St James’s Palace S. in what became his European finale. 

A Class 2 winner in nine starts last season, Dundonnell was impressive in taking a tough Class 1 over 1400 meters on International Races day Dec. 14 and was not disgraced in his most recent run, a fourth to Able Friend (Aus) (Shamardal) in the G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup Mar. 15. 

One of the quickest to jump, Dundonnell, backed from about 35-1 into 13-1 by post time, was the inner-most of a line of four fighting out the early pace, but ultimately came back to Stephane Pasquier to get the box seat as favored Gold-Fun and Peniaphobia, returning home off his second-place effort in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint, went on with it. Gold-Fun turned them in, having done the work to make the lead and Peniaphobia was still in with a chance, but Dundonnell traveled and just needed the way out. Peniaphobia weakened just a touch at the 300-meter mark and Dundonnell took advantage of that daylight, racing past Gold-Fun with a sixteenth of a mile to race to score nicely. 

“It’s a big moment for us this season to run one, two here,” commented trainer Richard Gibson. “It was another great performance from Gold-Fun. I was surprised to see him out in front but that was no fault of the jockey. He just jumped so well. In the end the five pounds, he gave to the winner, counted. Dundonnell was very good and given a great ride by Pasquier. The horse has had a brilliant season and the last thing I told the owner today was that I thought he could win,” Gibson added. 

Gold-Fun remains in the equation for a trip to Royal Ascot, though he indicated, “both horses would be good enough to go.” 

Dundonnell is out of a full-sister to Danehill.

Sunday, Sha Tin, Hong Kong
SPRINT CUP, HK$3,875,000 (US$499,998), Sha Tin, 4-26, 3yo/up, 1200mT, 1:08.37, gd/fm. 
1–DUNDONNELL, 123, g, 5, First Defence–Family, by Danzig. O-Elizabeth Lee Ho Hung; B-Juddmonte Farms Inc; T-Richard Gibson; J-Stephane Pasquier; HK$2,208,750. Lifetime Record: GSW-Eng, 25-6-5-6, HK$9,911,860. 
2–Gold-Fun (Ire), 128, g, 6, Le Vie Dei Colori (GB)–Goodwood March (GB), by Foxhound. (10,000gns yrl ‘10 TATOCT). O-Pan Sutong. HK$852,500. 
3–Smart Volatility (Aus), 123, g, 6, Danewin (Aus)–Something Funny (Aus), by Baryshnikov (Aus). O-Clarissa Or. HK$445,625. 
Margins: 1 1/4, 3/4, 1. Odds: 13-1, 2-1, 46-1. 
Also Ran: Peniaphobia (Ire), Tour de Force (Aus), Frederick Engels (GB), Charles the Great (Ire), Teofilo Calva (Ire), Lucky Nine (Ire), Golden Harvest (Aus).
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