Chris Lang Senior’s gifted trotter Sundons Gift added another Group victory to his impressive record on Friday night when he beat home a quality field of rivals in the $20, 000 Group 3 Bell Projects Maori’s Idol Memorial (2240m) at Melton’s Tabcorp Park.
The brilliant Sundons Gift started the 2010 Maori’s Idol Memorial as the clear favourite at $1.30 and didn’t disappoint once again as he beat home stablemate Kyvalley Mac ($21.40) by 3.7m, giving Lang the quinella.
Long-priced outsider Look Here Bloke ($75.60) finished a further 2.9m back in a desperate fight for third, beating Acacia Ridge ($28.10) by a fraction to the line.
The win gave dual Inter Dominion champion Sundons Gift back-to-back success in the Maori’s Idol Memorial
The win gave dual Inter Dominion champion Sundons Gift back-to-back success in the Maori’s Idol Memorial after he claimed victory there last year.
After starting from a poor back row barrier, eight-year-old Sundons Gift and Lang worked their way up the field and were sitting three wide and one back at the bell. They sat on the back of Joe Bro, installed as the $7.70 second favourite, and had a dream run.
While Joe Bro faded to finish sixth 8.7m back from the winner, with 300m to go Sundons Gift charged into the lead, sailing past his rivals for the win.
Sundons Gift ran a mile rate of 2:00.3 in Friday night’s victory, which was his 31st win from 59 career starts, his fifth in succession. The impressive Sundon gelding has now earned over $830, 670 in prizemoney making him the third highest earning trotter in Australasia.
Sundons Gift was ridden by Lang’s son Chris Jnr. who boasts an unbeaten record driving the star, having won eight from eight.
2010 Maoris Idol Memorial Results:
Place |
Horse |
Prizemoney |
Row & Br. |
Trainer |
Driver |
Margin (m) |
| 1 |
SUNDONS GIFT (NZ) |
$13, 500 | Sr4 | C W Lang | C A Lang | - |
| 2 |
KYVALLEY MAC (NZ) |
$3, 000 | Fr1 | C W Lang | B L Gledhill | 3.70 |
| 3 |
LOOK HERE BLOKE |
$2, 000 | Sr5 | P Sant | D K Douglas | 6.60 |
| 4 |
ACACIA RIDGE |
$1, 000 | Sr3 | G D Hoban | G D Hoban | 6.60 |
| 5 |
EARL OF MOT (NZ) |
$500 | Fr2 | L J Justice | L J Justice | 6.80 |
| 6 |
JOE BRO (NZ) |
- | Fr6 | P G Manning | K E Manning | 8.70 |
| 7 |
YENTLS STAR |
- | Fr5 | D Aiken | D N Moran | 10.10 |
| 8 |
BONITO |
- | Sr2 | P J Lindberg | S A Lindberg | 11.70 |
| 9 |
PEPPERELL DANCER |
- | Fr3 | D J Woolcock | D R Wilson | 12.90 |
| 10 |
CONQUER ALL (NZ) |
- | Sr1 | C A Alford | C A Alford | 13.20 |
| 11 |
RONERAIL |
- | Fr7 | M A Hughes | J N Quinlan | 19.30 |
| 12 |
SOSOCLASSY |
- | Fr4 | G A Lang | G A Lang | 23.50 |
| Scratched: | ||||||
| FLYING HARWICK (NZ) |