Fun Can Done takes Seeking My Dream Trophy and earns Mutha Mile points for da Costa

Fun Can Done, last year’s winner of the same race, collected 60 qualification points toward this year’s Mutha Mile at Kenilworth Park by taking Saturday’s main event on the programme.

The five-year-old American-bred bay won the fifth running of the Seeking My Dream Trophy, a graded stakes and open allowance test over seven and a half furlongs. He stopped the clock in 1:30.2 and won by three and a half lengths.

Reigning champion trainer Jason da Costa sent four of the six runners and swept the top three placings. Barnaby, from the yard of three-time former champion trainer Anton Marcus Nunes, went off the 4-5 favourite. Da Costa’s California Crown, ridden by Aaron Chatrie, set a strong pace but yielded in the stretch to stablemate Fun Can Done, a former Horse of the Year under Robert Khathi. California Crown Brave held second, with Gorvano and Neo Star battling for third.

Khathi said the horse carried him smoothly from the half-mile pole to the quarter pole and that he only pressed him up the straight, without hard riding on the bend. He called the victory special, noting that his father had admired Seeking My Dream, one of his best horses, and that winning the trophy on Fun Can Done, his top runner, meant a great deal.

Da Costa said the plan worked as intended: California Crown led and fought on to be second, while Fun Can Done sat just off the pace before finishing strongly. He praised California Crown’s effort and said he was pleased with how the race was run.

Later on the card, da Costa paired with the 8-5 second choice Rico Rico Rico to take the first division of the James B. Dawes Memorial Trophy, an overnight allowance feature over five furlongs on the straight. The second division went to the Anthony Nunes-trained 4-5 favourite Linguist, giving two-time reigning champion jockey Radcliffe Roman a double on the day.

Apprentice Tajay Shakuur also rode two winners. Racing returns next Saturday.