KINGSTON, Jamaica - Dunrobin’s elevation from a pony horse to an accomplished racer continued on Saturday last (January 18).
The seven-year-old bay gelded son of Blue Pepsi Lodge - En Vogue continued on the winning avenue with a decisive victory in an Overnight Allowance contest run over five-and-a-half furlongs (1,000 metres).
Ridden by Trevor Simpson and trained by Owen Sharpe, Dunrobin won while displaying strong resilience in a time of 1:06.2 with splits of 23.1 x 46.3. Campesino ridden by Reyan Lewis was second at odds of 5/2 with the 7/1 chance Bold Aflair finished third.
The victory was Dunrobin’s seventh from 21 starts and gave Simpson a second winner on the day.
Solomon Sharpe, part-owner of Dunrobin, provided historical details on Dunrobin.
“We are quite pleased with the progress this horse has made throughout his short career. Dunrobin had his issues when he was young, and we decided to use him as a pony for his former stablemate Uncle Taf.
“Sometimes while being used as a pony, he assisted with six or seven runs, and when Uncle Taf went to the farm, we saw that Dunrobin was a nice horse as he liked the training and enjoyed it.
“So, we decided to run an experiment and tried him in a race. Dunrobin first raced in an Optional Claiming event finishing fourth. We then came back and then tried him as a five-year-old, and he went on to win four straight races.
“Then he gradually caught the pace of Overnight Allowance horses, and now he has reached Open Allowance,” Solomon Sharpe recounted.
Sharpe gave credit to his father Owen, the trainer of Dunrobin, for the horse’s rise through the ranks. “The person who has to take all the credit is Owen Sharpe. He is excellent with horses, a master conditioner who spends a lot of time doing what he loves best — caring for the charges under his care,” Solomon ended.
