Almost certainly the best related horse Matthew Dunn has trained, Rainbow Connection can earn temporary bragging rights over big brother Golden Sixty with a victory at Eagle Farm this weekend.
As the winner of 22 of his 26 starts, Golden Sixty is the undisputed star of the family but he had to settle for a rare second placing in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile on Sunday.
Rainbow Connection has had a more chequered career, the two-time stakes placegetter spending a year on the sidelines with a tendon injury at the end of a promising three-year-old season.
Now five, he returns to black-type company for the first time since then in the Listed Lough Neagh Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday aiming to go one better than his half-brother did six days earlier.
“He’s got to carry Golden Sixty this week,” Dunn quipped.
Jokes aside, Dunn has a genuine respect for Rainbow Connection and believes the gelding shares a common trait with his superstar sibling.
Only the toughest horses thrive in Hong Kong and that resilience is a quality Dunn sees in Rainbow Connection every day.
Tipping the scales at around 650kg, the gelding is an equine giant, which means reaching peak fitness and maintaining it requires a concerted effort.
“He works harder than any other horse in my stable and he still looks like a baby elephant,” Dunn said.
“He’s a half to Golden Sixty and you can see a part of the reason Golden Sixty is so good in Hong Kong is because he’s so tough and this horse has that attribute as well.
“You can’t feed him enough, can’t work him enough.
“That suits the Hong Kong environment, and they probably get that from mum because this horse is as tough as they come.”
Rainbow Connection will be one of three Eagle Farm runners for Dunn, along with Coco Rox in the Clubs Queensland Handicap (1200m) and Holstein in the Nova 106.9 Plate (1600m).
Coco Rox appears especially well placed as both she and Rainbow Connection seek to press their claims for next month’s Magic Millions carnival at the Gold Coast.
The Eagle Farm meeting also signifies a fresh start for Dunn and his wife Keira, the pair recently making the difficult call to close their Sydney base due to a lack of boxes and consolidate their team at Murwillumbah.
“It’s the first day of Keira and I returning to Murwillumbah fulltime for probably the first time in three years,” Dunn said.
“It’s the start of a new era so hopefully it can be a successful one.”