Sundons Gift Wins E B Cochran Trotters Cup

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:29:52 +0000

Last Saturday night, January 23, the talented Sundons Gift added another group status victory to his illustrious record when he took out the Group 2 Aldebaran Park E B Cochran Trotters Cup (2690m) at Shepparton.

The eight-year-old son of Sundon started as the warm pre-race favourite at $1.90 and lived up to all expectations when he beat home the second elect Acacia Ridge ($2.80) in the champion square-gaiter’s first start in six weeks.

The bookies had it spot on for the event, as the third favourite starter Armed Guard ($12.20) finished off the trifecta.

The in-form Acacia Ridge showed tremendous gate speed from his front row barrier two setting the pace as the early leader.

On the last lap with 800m to go, Gary Hoban’s Acacia Ridge still held the lead with Sundons Gift second on the outside.

On the home straight it was a battle of the big guns as the two top trotters fought for the Cochran Cup title. Class prevailed in the end as the skilled veteran Sundons Gift eased ahead and crossed the line first by 2.3m.

Trained and driven by Chris Lang, the reigning Australian Trotting Grand Prix champion Sundons Gift clocked an impressive mile rate of 2:03.9 after overcoming his wide barrier to claim victory in the $30 000 feature, bringing his career stakes to over $620 000.

Lang’s other runner, Kyvalley Mac, finished sixth behind Pepperell Dancer with the Michael Marais-trained In Pursuit coming in fourth.

The victory further ensured that Sundons Gift is on track to defend his coveted Inter Dominion Championship title, which kicks off this Saturday with the semi final round at Ballarat.

2010 E B Cochran Trotters Cup Results:

Placing	Horse	Prizemoney	Row & Br.	Trainer	Driver	Margin (m)
1	SUNDONS GIFT (NZ)	$20 250	Sr4	C W Lang	C W Lang	-
2	ACACIA RIDGE	$4 500	Fr2	G D Hoban	G D Hoban	2.30
3	ARMED GUARD (NZ)	$3 000	Fr1	R A Shinn	C N Shinn	5.30
4	IN PURSUIT (NZ)	$1 500	Fr6	M C Marais	M C Marais	7.20
5	PEPPERELL DANCER	$750	Fr4	D J Woolcock	D J Woolcock	8.70
6	KYVALLEY MAC (NZ)	-	Sr2	C W Lang	C A Lang	11.60
7	KASYANOV (NZ)	-	Sr3	S A Gillespie	D K Douglas	11.60
8	YENTILS STAR	-	Fr5	D Aiken	D Aiken	12.80
9	GAVLENN RYOSHY	-	Fr3	G J Beckman	M J Bellman	17.00
10	CONQUER ALL (NZ)	-	Sr1	C A Alford	C A Alford	18.10
11	LOOK HERE BLOKE	-	Sr5	P G Manning	K E Manning	33.70
Scratched:
BONITO

Saturday Night’s Cochran Trotters Cup Preview

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:18:03 +0000

This Saturday, January 23, Shepparton Harness Club in Victoria will host the $30 000 Group 2 EB Cochran Trotters Cup.

It is a start studded field for the next feature trotting event, with many big names set to line up including the Michael Marais-trained In Pursuit and Chris Lang’s Sundons Gift.

In Pursuit has drawn barrier seven while last month’s Australian Trotting Grand Prix champion Sundon’s Gift has a bit of work to do from the barrier 11.

Despite the wide draw, the prolific Sundon’s Gift is still sure to start as the favourite, the bay gelding the most experienced and highest earning trotter on the field having won nearly $600 000 in prizemoney. He is coming off a last start second place to Skyvalley in the Group 1 Bill Collins Sprint back in December.

Chris Lang also has Kyvalley Mac entered in the 2690m staying event, starting from barrier nine.

Meanwhile, New Zealand bred Armed Guard has secured the inside running with barrier one and will start beside the highly fancied and ever-consistent Acacia Ridge, trained and driven by Gary Hoban.

Acacia Ridge, runner-up to Don King in the Group 1 VL Dullard Cup earlier in the month, is the only horse on the field coming off a last-start victory.

The big pacing event at the meeting is the $50 000 Group 2 Shepparton Gold Cup (race 7) with other highlights of the night including the $25 000 The Lombo 2YO Fillies Final (race 2) and the $25 000 The Lombo 2YO Colts & Geldings Final (race 8).

The EB Cochran Trotters Cup is scheduled as race five on the night’s cracker nine-race programme, set to start at 8:30pm (VIC time).

2010 Cochran Cup Final Field & Barrier Draw:

No.	Form	Horse	TRainer	Driver	Class
1	s6327	ARMED GUARD (NZ)	R A Shinn	Christopher Shinn	T7 TM1
2	89221	ACACIA RIDGE	G D Hoban	Gary Hoban	T13 TM8
3	s5508	BONITO – Em. 1	P J Lindberg	Steven Lindberg	T9 TM1
4	5s712	GAVLENN RYOSHY	G J Beckman	Michael Bellman	T10 TM2
5	96720	PEPPERELL DANCER	D J Woolcock	Daryl Woolcock	T10 TM1
6	29256	YENTLS STAR	D Aiken	David Aiken	T6 TM1
7	11002	IN PURSUIT (NZ)	M C Marais	Michael Marais	T10 TM2
Second Row:
8	8s503	CONQUER ALL (NZ)	C A Alford	Chris Alford	T9 TM0
9	33084	KYVALLEY MAC (NZ)	C W Lang	Chris Lang Jnr.	T9 TM1
10	63212	KASYANOV (NZ)	S A Gillespie	Daryl Douglas	T7 TM1
11	5s812	SUNDONS GIFT (NZ)	C W Lang	Chris Lang	T22 TM17
12	6514s	LOOK HERE BLOKE	P G Manning	Kerryn Manning	T6 TM1

Trots » EB Cochran Trotters Cup

Sundons Gift Wins E B Cochran Trotters Cup

2010 E B Cochran Trotters Cup Results:

Placing

Horse

Prizemoney

Row & Br.

Trainer

Driver

Margin (m)

SUNDONS GIFT (NZ)

ACACIA RIDGE

ARMED GUARD (NZ)

IN PURSUIT (NZ)

PEPPERELL DANCER

KYVALLEY MAC (NZ)

KASYANOV (NZ)

YENTILS STAR

GAVLENN RYOSHY

CONQUER ALL (NZ)

LOOK HERE BLOKE