John Dunn and Krystal Bishop have dominated racing on the west coast in recent years, but the $70,000 Port Lincoln Cup remains a race that has eluded them.
They take no short of five runners into Friday’s Eyre Peninsula feature led by topweight I Need A Drink who is chasing his third win in succession with talented apprentice Rochelle Milnes in the saddle.
“It would be nice to win a big one,’’ John Dunn said.
“We came close a few years back when Fearless Al was narrowly beaten by Dexter (You Devil),’’ he said.
Kayla Crowther will ride stablemate Mount Madeira who has drawn the inside, Sairyn Fawke partners Tigre Royale and Dylan Caboche takes the ride on Super Valentine who is first-up for the stable.
Dunn said he thought outside of I Need A Drink, the race emergency Ahso could be the stables second best option after he gained a start late on Wednesday after the scratching of Enbarr.
“I Need A Drink looks the pick of our runners, but I think Ahso could run a race now he’s gained a start,’’ Dunn said.
“It’s great to have four runners in the race for one of the stable’s biggest supporters, he puts a lot of money into racing, so hopefully one of them stands up,’’ he said.
The Dunn and Bishop stable have a massive hand on Cup Day, like all Port Lincoln meetings, with 29 acceptors and five emergencies across the eight races while they’ll saddle up nine of the 13 runners in the sixth race on the card.
Shayne Cahill, who won the Cup twice as a trainer and rider of Dexter You Devil in 2020 and 2021 saddles up Morty in this year’s edition while Splash Some Cash will be chasing a third successive win on Friday.
The David Page-trained galloper denied Dexter You Devil a three peat when he won his first in 2022 before holding off a fast finishing Grinzinger Allee last year and will have to overcome the extreme outside barrier to win this year’s feature.
