Favourites out of luck

Press, 12 September 1988, Page 25

Favourites out of luck

JEFF SCOTT

By

Dillon Dean paced his last 2400 m in a sensational 2:57.2 to run fourth in the Second D.B. Superstar Trial at Addington on Saturday after an early skirmish left him spotting the leaders 100 metres.

The $1.40 win favourite, beginning from 20m, was all but stopped in his tracks after the frontline horse, Crowley, backed away at the start, causing disaster within seconds. Willow Chip (10m) cannoned into Crowley with their sulkies becoming entangled. Both reinsman were tipped out.

With the leaders setting a cracking pace, Dillon Dean made little headway from the 2400 m to the 1600 m in 59.15. He made contact with the pack over his next 800 m

in 58.7 — pacing that mile in 1:57.7.

Running his next quarter in 29.4 — the first 2000 m of his last 2400 m in 2:27.1 — Dillon Dean was not unduly knocked around by reinsman Maurice McKendry when unable to make any further impression.

Last season’s star three-year-old finished off with a closing 400 m of 30.1, winding up a little over 12 lengths from the winner, Nugent Lopez, to claim fourth prizemoney of $525.

Dillon Dean’s last 2400 m represents a mile rate of 1:58 and is well inside the New Zealand mark of 3:1.2 (held by Rostriever Hanover). What’s Next holds the world record for the North American equivalent of H/2 miles at 2:53.2, set in May last year.

“He went a bit harder than I would have liked, but it doesn’t seem to have taken anything out of him,” said Dillon Dean’s Takanini partowner and trainer, Don Dwyer, after the gelding had cooled out an hour later. Just as Dillon Dean was the victim of bad luck, so too was another leading hope for this Friday’s $45,000 D.B. Four-Year-Old Championship, Starship, in the C 8 and faster Latimer Motor Lodge Pace. Slow to begin, the Lordship entire was checked when crowded by the breaking frontline horse, Viewfield Prince, and Loveridge, tangling for a few strides.

Ending up at the rear on the inner, Starship’s odds of carrying through

his supporters slumped as Colin de Filippi slowed the field down in front with Speedy Cheval in the middle stages.

Able to work clear after the field opened up in midfield at the 600 m, Starship stormed up wide out at the 450 m, but the leaders hadn’t sprinted at this stage, made clear by Starship’s second last quarter of 29.9. Starship ran home his closing 400 m in a swift 27.4 but was unable to make any impression, winding up seventh. The winner would have tramped this section in better than 27.

For the record, Starship ran his last 2400 m in 3:4.8, but his connections, along with Dillon Dean’s, will be hoping their luck takes a turn for the bet-/ ter in Friday’s Group Two feature.