It’s not just South African horses which are grabbing the imagination on the international stage.
Former airline pilot and Gr1-winning trainer Dylan Cunha joined in the fray when he celebrated his biggest winner on British soil with bargain buy Prague in Friday’s Gr2 Joel Stakes at Newmarket.
Dylan Cunha – going places! (Pic – Supplied)
Allowed to stride on before halfway, the Galileo colt dictated his own tempo and continued to pour it on in the closing stages, ultimately scoring by the best part of four lengths.
The soft underfoot conditions saw only four line up for the mile contest, which incidentally, was won in imperious fashion by Mike de Kock’s champion Soft Falling Rain in 2023.
Prague is a bit of a fairytale horse, given that Cunha sourced the colt for buttons at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training sale 11 month ago, paying a mere ten grand for the then unraced three-year-old from the Ballydoyle draft.
Cunha commented post race: “He had suffered a leg fracture but we’ve never missed a day with him. He’s still a big baby, that’s the exciting thing. When he finally matures, he’ll be a really nice horse.”
The colt made an auspicious start to his career when scoring by four lengths on debut at Sandown in June, then finished fourth in the Listed Gala Stakes at the same track.
He reaffirmed his talent earlier this month when runner-up in the Gr3 Superior Mile Stakes at Haydock.
This landmark victory adds to the burgeoning reputation of his trainer, who took out his British licence in 2022 and is based at the Phantom House Stables in Newmarket.
The highlight of Cunha’s South African training career came in the 2007 Gr1 Summer Cup, where he saddled Australian-bred Strategic News to a 2.75 length victory. In Prague, he may well have a horse capable of holding his own at a similar level.
