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Ed Dunlop
Gainsborough Stables Trainer
Dunlop team enjoy smooth transition
THERE MIGHT have been no Ouija Board to fly the flag for Ed Dunlop in 2007 but otherwise it was very much business as usual with more than 50 winners recorded at home and abroad.
The victories ensured a smooth transition as Ed enjoyed a successful first season as a public trainer, having previously been employed at his Gainsborough Stables base in Newmarket by the late Sheikh Maktoum.
The campaign, in which Dunlop embarked on an exciting sponsorship venture with Jewsons, got off to a fast start with Munaddam recording two high-profile victories at the Dubai International Racing Carnival. In England, too, Ed was swift to make his mark with Ektimaal recording a January hat-trick before also going on to score on his next outing in early March.
Dunlop had his string in full swing for the beginning of the turf season with April and May providing a host of wins. Traditionally, both months are very competitive as yards try to speed from the blocks but there were few in as good form as the Gainsborough Stables team, who sent out 17 winners in that period.
One of those to strike was Dalvina. She ran out a six-length winner of the Pretty Polly Stakes, which Ouija Board had won by the same margin three years earlier. The omens may have been positive, but Dalvina found the soft ground conditions against her at Epsom and wasn’t able to emulate the Oaks achievement of her illustrious former stable-mate.
However, she would go on to have a most creditable season, highlighted by a fine three-and-a-half length win in the Grade 3 Long Island Handicap at Aqueduct.
She didn’t finish the year as the highest-rated inmate at Gainsborough Stables - that honour belonged to King Of Argos. Progressive and hardy, he recorded three wins over the season to sign off at the end of term with an official mark of 110.
The gelding contested a host of valuable handicaps and, in particular, gave connections two memorable days at Goodwood. The first was back in June when he nailed a short head victory and then he returned in late August to scoop more than £12,000 in a seven-furlong handicap. He was far from disgraced, either, on his bow in Group company when he finished fifth in the Joel Stakes at Newmarket.
While he and another old favourite Tabadul have moved on to pastures new, there are a couple or so others who should form the backbone of a useful team of older horses for Dunlop in 2008. Ektimaal, already mentioned, remains in training at five, while the hope is that four-year-old pair Al Khaleej and Broomielaw can fulfil their potential.
Certainly, Al Khaleej looked the type to find further improvement in the future when he won a Newmarket handicap last July. He is pencilled in to begin his latest campaign with a tilt at the Lincoln, the Flat season’s traditional curtain-raiser at the end of March.
Meanwhile, the lightly-raced Broomielaw could still be anything. Having made a full recovery from a setback sustained at the start of his three-year-old season, he was an emphatic maiden winner at Doncaster towards the end of 2007. Emerald Wilderness, Chantilly Tiffany, Madaarek and Sister Maria were others from the three-year-old generation to make significant contributions to the yard’s winners’ tally last season.
As for a review of the juveniles, it would be unfair not to start with Cosmic Art. The bonny son of Bertolini registered three wins and also secured a sizeable share of the prize pot for finishing third to subsequent Middle Park winner Dark Angel in the £300,000 sales race at York’s Ebor fixture. Kaldoun Kingdom was another of the youngsters to enjoy a busy and fruitful campaign, winning twice.
There were plenty of other promising displays from the two-year-olds - and a fair amount of winners. Hip looked a bright prospect when winning at Warwick last August on what is her only racecourse start to date.
It was also hard not to be impressed by another debutant scorer, Wasan. He showed a good deal of ability with a back-end success on the polytrack at Lingfield.
At the same course, Malibu Girl made a most pleasing debut last October, breaking her maiden in good style. Yarmouth maiden winner Pinkindie shaped as if there is more to come, while Girl Of Pangaea, Last Three Minutes and Paradise Island gave encouraging glimpses of what is likely to lie ahead.
Nothing, of course, is guaranteed in racing. But the results and performances shown by the Dunlop team in 2007 suggest there are plenty more days to look forward to over the coming months and years as the trainer of such stars as Ouija Board, Court Masterpiece, Lailani, Fraulein and Ta Rib - among many others - seeks to add to what is an already impressive CV.
TONY RUSHMER
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