7th Group 1 winner for Dundeel

Four weeks after Dundeel’s 2YO son Militarize completed a superb Group 1 Sires’ Produce-Champagne Stakes double, 3YO Dunkel has won the $500,000 South Australian Derby 2500m G1, becoming the 7th Group 1 winner among Dundeel’s 24 stakeswinners.

Already a dual Listed winner in Tasmania, Dunkel has won six of his eight starts this season, earning $670,000 for his owners and a first Group 1 victory for both his trainer Patrick Payne and jockey Billy Egan.

Dunkel charges home to win the G1 South Australian Derby! 💨 @TheBeeegan pic.twitter.com/Dc8dlns4Ua

— Racing.com (@Racing) May 13, 2023

Success looked far from certain when race favourite Promises Kept drove clear of the field 300 metres from home, while Dunkel was still looking for racing room.

Billy Egan explained, “When we left the straight the first time I was like ‘this is going to be easy’, I was fifth, one-off (the rail) and (thought) ‘I’ll just bide my time and go’ and then we got shuffled back and we had to work our way through them.

“But he’s got that killer instinct, every horse out there he wants to pass and that’s what he did.”

Bred in New Zealand by Pencarrow Thoroughbreds, Dunkel is the fifth and best winner left by stakes-placed winner Kudamm (by Cape Cross) and was sold as a yearling for $40,000 at Karaka. He was subsequently purchased for $100,000 by Kevin Myers at the NZ Ready to Run Sale.

It’s notable that, like Dundeel’s multiple Group-winning daughter Hope In Your Heart, Dunkel is in-bred 3 x 3 to Sadler’s Wells.

The pedigree of 2YO Dundeel filly Miracle Of Love, who flashed home for a debut third in Saturday’s Woodlands S. LR at Scone, shows a 3 x 4 double-up of Sadler’s Wells, thanks to her third dam, the 1995 Epsom Oaks G1 winner Moonshell.

The champion son of High Chaparral has consolidated his place among Australia’s top 10 sires, and after a $450,000 weekend, he holds 7th spot with $11.3 million prizemoney and 7 winners of 16 Australian stakes races so far this season.