DUNDERDALE'S TRIO ALL TUNED UP

Awesome Storm, Te Akau Ben and Good Fight ready for Cup

- Brian Miller

Simon Dunderdale is making space in his trophy cabinet for the Tunku Gold Cup trophy.

The seriousness of his challenge in the Group 1 race (1,200m) on March 16 was there for all to see on the morning of March 11.

With four confirmed entries and one emergency acceptor in the Tunku Gold Cup, the reigning Malaysian champion trainer holds the whip hand in this first leg of the Malaysian Triple Crown series.

Dunderdale's Awesome Storm, Te Akau Ben and Good Fight were the headliners at the busy training track at Sungai Besi.

The trio did not break any speed records for the 600m but that was probably not the intention.

On a track rated "good", we saw Awesome Storm dispose of the distance in 40sec. Te Akau Ben went a tad slower in 41.2sec while Good Fight cleared the trip in 42 - unextended.

Come March 16, what are we going to get from this terrific trio?

To take it from the top, we have Awesome Storm. A reputed front runner, he fell short at his last start in the Supreme A race (1,200m) on Feb 23.

Under apprentice Tuan Ammar, the son of Phenomenons led the field but was found wanting in the closing stages and was caught by eventual winner General Command and Shirvo. He ran third 2¼ lengths in arrears.