Wednesday Racing: The Super Seth show rolls on with an impressive Kensington quinella

Written by Dane McLeod of The Thoroughbred Report

Kundabung hitting stride for connections

The Waikato Stud silks may have finished second on the day, but the result was one to savour for the famed New Zealand nursery, as it marked a quinella for their exciting young stallion, Super Seth. The son of Dundeel (NZ) continues to build momentum, with his progeny going from strength to strength on the track and he stands this season at a raised fee of NZ$75,000 plus GST.

The action came late in the race, after a solid tempo was set by She Rex (NZ) (Russian Revolution) with the Chris Waller-trained Kundabung (NZ) (Super Seth) and the Ciaron Maher-trained, Waikato Stud-bred, owned and raced So Long Farewell (NZ) (Super Seth) settling off the pace, and then surging through the middle of the pack. In the end, Kundabung proved dominant, pulling away for a convincing win with So Long Farewell a length and a half adrift in second.

Adding further to the Super Seth quinella and the general Waikato Stud flavour of the result, was the fact that both the progeny of Super Seth are out of O’Reilly (NZ) mares, and both were bred by Waikato Stud. In one final twist, the third-placegetter Vetwelve (Grunt {NZ}), is by a son of Waikato Stud’s legendary O’Reilly, he narrowly held off Charleroi (Dundeel {NZ}) to round out the placings.

A 3-year-old gelding, Kundabung is out of O’Dianne (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}), who placed fourth in both the R. Listed Karaka Million 3YO Mile, and the Listed Wellesley Stakes. She is already proving her worth in the broodmare barn, having also produced the Listed winner Avebury (NZ) (Savabeel) and the G1 Queensland Derby placegetter Paternal (NZ) (Savabeel).

Kundabung’s granddam, Breezy (NZ) (Pins), was a Group 3 winner and hails from the extended family of globetrotting Group 1 star Starcraft (NZ).

Despite his evident talent, Kundabung has a bit of a reputation at the barriers, from which he has been late scratched at the gates before, a topic trainer Chris Waller addressed post-race.

“Full credit to Adam, he has done a lot of work with him, and hence the reason why he was on him today. The horse has got ability, as you can see, he has just lacked it mentally,” Waller said.

“He will get to a mile easily, but we just wanted to see him do things right, and when the horse was playing up in the barriers, it’s dangerous, not just for the horse, but obviously the jockey and the starters’ attendants. So you’ve got to get all those little things right before you can go planning ahead. Hopefully, we can progress through to a Saturday race at least.”

Jockey Adam Hyeronimus echoed those sentiments, providing insight into Kundabung’s mannerisms and development.

“He’s just an anxious horse, it’s all learning,” Hyeronimus said. “But it’s good to see him make the progression. He trialled well, his manners were good, and he actually trialled very well without doing a great deal on him, so I was very confident coming here today.

“He wants to sort of get on with the job, even going to the gates, and that’s why he is a little bit agitated in the barriers, but the fellas behind the gates have done a really good job with him. They know him now, and he jumps really well.

“The biggest thing is he’s such a big horse and he is strong, so it is just about getting him to settle and conserve that energy. We had a beautiful run in transit and everything opened up at the top of the straight, and he was too good.”

Kundabung was purchased for $450,000 from the draft of Sledmere Stud (as agent for Waikato Stud) by Mulcaster Bloodstock and Chris Waller Racing at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Since producing Kundabung, O’Dianne has foaled a yearling filly by Noverre (NZ) and was served again by the young Waikato Stud stallion last spring.