HAIR OF THE DOG made it 3 wins and 1 placing from 4 starts when he jumped and led throughout in a 3yo Country Plate event over 1206m at Grafton on Thursday.
Ideally placed in this event, back against his own age and under the set weights and penalties conditions,
HAIR OF THE DOG (by Tale Of The Cat) was still asked to lump 59.0 kgs and spot weight to his rival placegetters Skipper 55.5kgs and My Boy Louie 55.5kgs.
A natural front runner,
HOT DOG as he is affectionately known by connections was perfectly rated in front by leading Northern Rivers rider Stephen Tracey.
After an even dispatch, HOT DOG rolled forward after 150m and then controlled the speed. Swinging for home he was pressured by his rivals however Stephen knew he had plenty of horse under saddle and bided his time as the challengers approached.
As the runner-up came close to eyeballing our horse, Stephen shook the reigns at Hot Dog and he responded despite having done all the work under the big weight. He found three-quarters of a length and then was allowed to cruise to hold off the gallant runner- up.
Again the race was run at a fast pace off the front and HOT DOG recorded 1:10.14 for the 1206m event coming home in 34.41 which proved to be mathematically too hard for those chasing to bridge the gap.
HAIR OF THE DOG - As a yearling at the Inglis Classic Sale
Our Murwillumbah based trainer Matthew Dunn has done a terrific job with the 3yo gelding and only pilot error at his 2nd start denies HOT DOG from having a picket fence beside his name.
The start prior, HOT DOG won the Woodlawn Cup 1200m carrying 59.0kgs, again giving weight and age to his rivals, running just 2/100ths outside the 13 year class record set by a horse carrying 56.5kgs.
We had been toying with the idea several times of starting HOT DOG in Brisbane including holding a nomination for Doomben this Saturday however the lure of racing HOT DOG in NSW is too appealing at this stage because he’s eligible for BOBS Bonuses.
Thursday’s win is the third BOBS Bonus HOT DOG has won and that has added $15,000 in bonus monies to his prizemoney tally.
There is plenty of time to head across the boarder into Queensland so we are exploiting the opportunity to add BOBS to the bank account whilst it is available.
BOBS bonuses run out when the horse turns four on August 1st.
We congratulate our OWNERS of HAIR OF THE DOG and wish them many more trips to the winner’s circle:
Dynamic Syndications Racing, Mr K R Ford, Mr D J Henry, Mrs V L Henry, Ms P L Leeper, Mr B E Outram, Mr M Gocher, Mr L P Kelly, Mr P M Bonilla, Craigphil, Mr A Beattie, Mr P J Leeming, Brad & Scott, Mr J Yianni, Mr S F Duggan, Mr M W Priddy, Mr B J Todd, Mr T J Lewtas
HAIR OF THE DOG was DYNAMIC SYNDICATIONS 414th Race Win since October 2005 and our 28th Race Win for this season.