Fukubana on trial for return Sydney trip at Doomben

By Glenn Davis

In-form trainer Matthew Dunn will consider a return Sydney trip with highly-rated Fukubana if the three-year-old performs well in his comeback at Doomben on Wednesday.

Fukubana – a Brodie Loy mount – takes on stable mate The Lions’ Gate in the Benchmark 62 Handicap over 1110 metres.

The son of Dundeel hasn’t raced since competing in a two-year-old race at Rosehill on July 22 last year when he finished second to the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Taormina.

It followed an impressive debut win over 1000 metres at Eagle Farm on July 5.

Fukubana is raced by long-time clients of Dunn who paid $250,000 for the colt at the Sydney Easter sales.

“He’s a very good horse and he’s had two trials and went well in both to prepare for this race on Wednesday,” Dunn said.

“Unfortunately, he’s drawn in the wilderness but he should still race well.

“I want to see how he comes up and if he goes well he could go back to Sydney for the Eskimo Prince and then maybe the Arrowfield Sprint.

“If not, he may run in the QTIS Jewel Prelude here but he’s not a QTIS horse so he’s not eligible for the QTIS Jewel Final in March.”

The Group 3 Eskimo Prince will be run at Randwick on February 10 with the Group 2 Arrowfield Sprint, also over 1200 metres, at Randwick on April 13.

The Lions’ Gate drew barrier six for his clash with Fukubana, who drew gate 11, while another Dunn runner on the program Smooth Torque drew barrier five in the Benchmark 62 Handicap over 1650 metres.

The Lions' Gate finished fourth in a Highway race over 1100 metres a Rosehill on December 2 before a last start sixth in a Benchmark race at Doomben on January 10.

“His last run was okay and he’s been fairly consistent so he should be competitive,” Dunn said of The Lions' Gate. 

“Smooth Torque was an unlucky third last start when he was squeezed out late at Eagle Farm and he should have won.

"He'll run in the other Benchmark 62 but I'm not sure whether I'll run Spillify."

The Dunn stable, which is based at Murwillumbah, has been in great form this month with seven winners including Emperor’s win in a Benchmark race at Eagle Farm last Saturday.

Dunn also trained a double on Magic Millions day at the Gold Coast earlier this month with Boom Torque in the Magic Millions QTIS and Derry Grove in the Magic Millions The Syndicate.