Sovereign Nation at his best for return

Friday 31 January 2020, 11:46am

Murwillumbah trainer Matt Dunn will be the most surprised person at Eagle Farm if Sovereign Nation does not perform well.

Sovereign Nation will be trying to break a 22-month winning drought in the Queensland Chinese Jockey Club Open (1200m) on Saturday.

The gelding has been with Dunn for just over a year and has raced well without success.

It will be Sovereign Nation's first start since finishing an unlucky fourth in an Eagle Farm Open Handicap in August.

Dunn has an air of confidence about Sovereign Nation's chances at Eagle Farm.

"He is going very well and in fact it is the best he has been with me since coming from the south," Dunn said.

"His trials have been extra good and in his latest he beat some of his main rivals on Saturday.

"I would be very disappointed if he doesn't run a big race. I suppose it is 100 metres short of what would be ideal but there should be pace and he will be running home hard."

Dunn tried to book a claiming apprentice for Sovereign Nation on Saturday but his preferred choices were not available.

"He has plenty of weight but his rating is well above the rest of the field," he said.

"Jim Orman will ride him and if you look he has a good record on topweights."

Dunn is looking at a 1400m-race at Eagle Farm a fortnight after Saturday as a follow-up target for Sovereign Nation.

The seven-year-old was formerly trained by Lindsay Park in Victoria where he was once considered a future Group One star and a stud prospect.

But his wayward habits prompted connections to have him gelded two seasons ago.

In Victoria, Sovereign Nation won the Group Two Stutt Stakes and was fourth in the Group One Caulfield Guineas won by Press Statement.

He also finished second to Tosen Stardom in the Group One Toorak Handicap and fourth in the Group One Sir Rupert Clarke.

His last win was in the Listed VRC Stakes at Flemington in March 2018.

When his original trainers David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig decided he needed a change of scenery, Sovereign Nation was sent to Dunn.

"Like all horses who get back in their races he needs some luck. But with a bit of luck on Saturday watch out late for him," Dunn said.

– AAP

Latest News

Prime Thoroughbreds - We have a Host of Leaders in our Team

Tuesday, 29 June 2021

Prime Thor­ough­bred’s cur­rent rac­ing team is putt­ing to­gether quite a re­cord. We have 22 hors­es that have raced in our team at pre­sent. Six­teen of th­ese are win­n­ers in­clud­ing the Stakes win­n­ing trio Ru­bisa­ki, Fituese and Xtreme­time with Miss Di­vine Em and Miss In Charge run­n­ing 4th in Stakes races. This sees a stakes win­n­er to win­n­er ra­tio of 18.75% with a stake’s per­formed to win­n­er ra­tio of 31.25%. Th­ese are ex­cep­tio­n­al fig­ures.   More »

Freedmans land maiden Group One win

Saturday, 27 February 2021

Un­der-rat­ed fil­ly For­bid­den Love has emerged as an au­tumn car­ni­val smokey with a bril­liant per­for­mance to win the Sur­round Stakes at Rand­wick.  More »

Capriccio completes Damian Lane treble

Saturday, 27 February 2021

In a big day for coun­try-trained hors­es, War­r­nam­bool fil­ly Capric­cio has tak­en out the In­glis Dash for Daniel Bow­man.  More »

More news headlines »