Tasmanian racegoers were very close to witnessing one of the biggest upsets in recent history only for Dunkel to dive through late and take out the Listed Tasmanian Derby.
The shortest priced favourite in the Derby since Northwest Passage in 2017, Dunkel was tipped to win in a canter, however it didn’t pan out as many expected.
Locked away on the inside, Dunkel was shuffled back and had nowhere to go in the straight before finding a needle eye opening late, much to jockey Harry Coffey’s delight.
“I must admit I thought we were going to run an unlucky third so for him to get the win, we were probably a little bit lucky but when you are on horses that are better than the rest of the field, the luck can fall your way,” Coffey said.
“There was a really tight run in the last 150m and I was lucky he was good enough to dart through it and get the job done.
“A lot of the time when you ride horses, when they get into tricky spots, they don’t have the ability to get out of them, but at this point in his life he does, so I’m lucky enough to pilot him.
A winner of five of his six starts, stable representative Annie De Morton was very happy following the event, though admitted it was far from an easy watch.
“We were very nervous in the run but he has given us a few frights a long the way,” De Morton said.
“Once he got that clear air, he didn’t let us down, we are thrilled.
“I think drawing barrier two was never going to help him but sometimes you just need that little bit of luck and thankfully we got it at the right time.”
A long term plan, De Morton said the Derby was pencilled in back in October.
“Patrick [Payne] actually had Tasmania in mind after he won first up at Moonee Valley, he just through it out there as a possibility and here we are,” De Morton said.
“He’s just chipped away, placed him very conservatively and just looked after the horse as he does.”
Successful in bringing up Payne’s second success in the Derby, the next step for Dunkel is still undecided though the stable had plenty of people to thank to this point.
“We’ll just see how he pulls up, the SA Derby has obviously been mentioned but that’s a fair way off and we’re in no rush, we’ll just get him home first,” De Morton said.
“We’ve had great assistance, Adam Trinder he was down in Launceston for just a few days, he’s always helpful.
“Then he switched down to Scott Brunton’s, down at the beach, it’s a very similar environment to what he is used to.
“Doug Arnold has been with the horse the whole time, we can’t thank him enough.”