He’s been a busy boy in recent months, but there’s no signs of fatigue from Aaron Dunn’s tough warrior Bondi Lockdown.
The exciting colt was one of our Victorian raiders that tackled the Queensland Constellations Carnival through July, and while things didn’t quite go his way in two Derby appearances up north, he returned to the races with a dominant display in the Schweppes 3YO Pace (1710m) at Ballarat on Saturday night.
The son of Somebeachsomewhere showed he’s well placed to attack some of the big upcoming three-year-old features with an all-the-way success at Bray Raceway.
“I gave him a week off from when he raced up there (Queensland),” the Horsham trainer-driver told Trots Vision after the victory.
“There’s not a long time and then there’s a $40,000 race in two weeks’ time.
“They travelled good. I sort of stuck to the same plan on the way up and the way back, and he seems to have recovered good.”
The $40,000 race Dunn is talking about is the Group 3 VHRC Caduceus Victoria Sires Classic, which sits as the richest race on the Tabcorp Park Melton August 28 card.
Following that, cracks at the Downbytheseaside Victoria Derby and Alabar Vicbred Super Series are certainly on the radar for Dunn’s charge later in the year.
“Hopefully he’s still going good and (there) might (also) be the Chariots of Fire or something like that,” he said.
Dunn feared Bondi Lockdown might have been a bit underdone for the weekend’s assignment, but it mattered little as the horse speared across from his barrier seven draw and led all the way to score by 4m on the line.
“I probably was a little bit concerned I hadn’t done enough work,” he said.
“I ended up giving him a run on the Sunday after a week jogging, just so I could get another run in before (Saturday) night.
“After he disappointed at Kilmore, I just put him on the jogger for jogging because he does get a bit too hyped up. The more you keep him a bit quieter, the better he is.
“Even though he was a bit more relaxed, he just sort of waited for them and then just did what he had to…”
Bondi Lockdown, who is owned outright by Dunn, is now a winner of six races for more than $100,000 in prizemoney.
