Be There Dunn That

Sun Herald

Sunday February 24, 2008

By John Schell Caulfield

DWAYNE Dunn was feeling no pressure leading into his quest for a fourth straight $1 million Blue Diamond Stakes. And judging by his winning ride on the David Hayes-trained Reaan in the juvenile dash for cash it was easy to see why.

"I slept like a baby. There was no reason not to. I had no pressure on me. Everyone had written my horse off," Dunn said in the wake of Reaan ensuring the jockey maintained an unbeaten record in the Blue Diamond and in the process giving Hayes his fifth win in the race and a remarkable third straight quinella in the group 1.

Dunn was having his first ride in a Blue Diamond in 2005 when he came with a barnstorming finish to score on the Mark Kavanagh-trained Undoubtedly. Then he linked with Hayes for success on Nadeem the following year before making it three when successful on Sleek Chassis last year.

Not since Shane Dye won four straight Golden Slippers in Sydney from 1989 to 1992 on Courtza, Canny Lad, Tierce and Burst has a jockey dominated a group 1 as much.

"I guess I am just lucky to be associated with David [Hayes]," said Dunn, who admitted Reaan had always been "one of my Blue Diamond picks" even before he knew its name.

"We get on them early on at Lindsay Park [Hayes's South Australian base] and see how they go and only have their brands to remember them by then," he said.

"Then it is a matter of making sure nobody else gets on the horse by the time it races. Reaan gave me a great feel right from the start. He reminded me a lot of Nadeem, who I also picked out early on."

Hayes said Dunn's ride on Reaan was "outstanding, because he won" but added the effort of Brad Rawiller on stablemate and runner-up All American was "just as good".

Rawiller had been shooting for the group 1 double of the day having won on star three-year-old Weekend Hussler in the Oakleigh Plate.

Reaan had won on debut at Bendigo last October before a second to Exceedingly Good, which finished seventh yesterday, in the Maribyrnong Plate.

Hayes brought the son of Arrowfield Stud stallion Hussonet back from a spell for what he described "a soft kill" in a Blue Diamond Preview and he went into yesterday's feature after a month away from racing.

"I was a little bit concerned that David had been a bit soft on the horse," Dunn said. "But he has turned out to be a genius again."

Hayes said Sydney was the next option for his team of two-year-olds which was the reason he hasn't "overtaxed them" so far this carnival.

"There is plenty of racing left for them up in Sydney and a lot will be going up there," he said.

Dunn said he was looking to attempt to add the Golden Slipper to his four Blue Diamonds this year and was hoping Reaan was the horse for the job.

"He has done nothing wrong and is improving all the time," Dunn said.

Reaan ($14) prevailed in a driving finish by a long neck over All American ($7) with the Tony Vasil-trained filly Burgeis ($9) a long head away in third.

The Kavanagh-rained speedy filly Believe'n'succeed battled on to finish fourth ahead of Minnesota Shark in fifth.

© 2008 Sun Herald

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