Aaron Dunn broke a long Group 1 drought when Bondi Lockdown won the VHRC Caduceus 3YO Classic in January, and there’s similar hype, if not more, surrounding his stablemate Mykorona.
Dunn bred, owns and trains the exciting filly, and jumped in the sulky to drive her to a dominant success in the TAB Premiere Stakes (1720m) at Tabcorp Park Melton on Saturday night.
Like she did when winning at her previous start at Geelong, Mykorona flew the arm and landed in front from a wide barrier, before reeling off quarters of 29.5, 30.6, 28 and 29.4 to score by nearly nine metres. She finished clear of Solesseo Matuca (Damien Burns/Ryan Duffy) and Botanist (Ange McDowall/Jason Lee), who both turned in encouraging runs on debut.
“I had gone to Port Fairy for a couple of weeks and she had done a few special things while I was away. Sam (Barker) said she is better than Bondi Lockdown and I said ‘that’s a big call’,” Dunn told Trots Vision after the race.
“It still is a big call, but she does everything nice and she has probably done better times on the track at home than him. She is doing everything a bit more right than he did. And she is probably a bit more advanced at this time of the year than I had him.”
Dunn said he was still weighing up his plans with the filly – a two-year-old by Four Starzzz Shark out of Madazhell – who may now be sent for a spell.
Earlier, Romsey trainer-driver Chris Svanosio recorded a squaregaiter running double with Peregrine Phoenix and Dels Destiny.
The two wins were in vastly different circumstances, with Peregrine Phoenix leading all the way in the Niota Bloodstock Trot (1720m) before Dels Destiny flashed home from back in the field to snare the All In One Property Trot (2240m) right on the wire.
Terang trainer Margaret Lee also nabbed a winning double on Saturday night with Jilliby Lorenzo taking the Menzclub Pace (2240m) for driver Darby McGuigan and Keayang Destiny powering home along the sprint lane for Glen Craven in the Del-Re National Food Group Pace (1720m).
Another highlight on the card was the return to winning ways of David Aiken-trained Malcolms Rhythm, who zipped up the sprint lane to take out the Catanach’s Jewellers Markovina Free For All (2240m).
It was the five-year-old’s first win since September last year and came after a string of second placings in the Cobram Pacing Cup, Shepparton Gold Cup, Casey Classic and Terang Cup.
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