News Article
Dream Showdown Just Days Away
30 November 2009
Sundons Gift, winner of the past two Australian Trotting Grands Prix, will clash with star stablemate Skyvalley in this year's race
Harness fans don't have long to wait for one of the most anticipated showdowns of the modern era.
Sundons Gift and Skyvalley have both been nominated for the feature event of Friday's opening night of this year's SEW-Eurodrive Victoria Cup Carnival at Tabcorp Park, the $100,000 Group 1 SEW-Eurodrive Australian Trotting Grand Prix.
Harness devotees have been salivating at the prospect of a clash between the Chris Lang-trained stablemates for months.
Sundons Gift is the reigning Inter Dominion trotting champion, while Skyvalley is a dual Tabcorp Australasian Breeders Crown winner considered the next big thing in Australasian trotting.
They haven't met since last season's Inter Dominion Trotting Final at Moonee Valley on February 7, when Skyvalley finished sixth behind his stablemate.
The only other time they have contested the same race was in last year's Bill Collins Trotters Mile when Sundons Gift finished third and Skyvalley seventh.
Much has changed since those meetings, however, with Skyvalley pursuing a seventh straight win this weekend.
The five-year-old son of Muscles Yankee hasn't finished further back than second in 12 starts since April 30 and last time out, on November 6, he readjusted the Tabcorp Park 2240m track record with a 1:59.2 win.
Sundons Gift tuned up for his shot at a third straight Grand Prix crown with an eighth placing in last Saturday night's Cranbourne Trotters Cup - his first outing since the last of four European runs in May and June.
While the long awaited clash headlines Friday night's main event, it is by no means a two-horse affair.
Also entered are Kiwi star Springbank Richard, a last-start winner of the famed Dominion Handicap in his homeland, and a quality local contingent including Will Trapper, Acacia Ridge and Viva La Fever.
Acceptances close tomorrow at 8.30am with barriers allocated a few hours later at the Carnival's official launch at Eynesbury Golf Club.
The feature pacing event on Friday night is the $30,000 Group 3 SEW-Eurodrive Popular Alm Free-For-All, which carries a ballot exemption from the following week's $400,000 Group 1 SEW-Eurodrive Victoria Cup.
Inter Dominion pacing champion Mr Feelgood is the headline entry for the 2240m event, while Maffioso will make his first appearance since completing the big Chariots Of Fire-Breeders Crown four-year-old double in August.
