By a no-frills stallion out of a mare who campaigned on the picnic circuit, Subterranean is proving to be somewhat of an over-achiever on the racetrack.
A son of Group One-winning sprinter Rebel Dane, Subterranean gave the under-rated stallion his first winner when successful at his second start at Doomben and his first stakes winner when taking out the Group 3 Ken Russell Memorial Classic at the Gold Coast in May.
It is an impressive resume for a horse whose dam, Caves, fetched just $1000 as a broodmare prospect and a great advertisement for Rebel Dane, who stands for just $8800 and has produced a stakes winner from only a handful of horses to race.
Subterranean will be out to take his career to the next level when he resumes in Saturday’s Group 3 Up And Comings Stakes (1300m) at Kembla Grange, kicking off a campaign trainer Matt Dunn hopes can lead to the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick in October.
“He’s got really good talent obviously, and he’s got a great attitude and that takes him a long way,” Dunn said.
“He is the quietest colt you’d ever see, he just does his thing. You ask him to run time on the track and he does it, you ask him to relax and he does it.
“He’s a pleasure to have and that’s probably one of his main attributes, his relaxed attitude. Hopefully that will help him stretch out in trip this preparation, maybe to a Spring Champion Stakes.”
Dunn tested the waters over a longer journey at the back-end of the Brisbane winter carnival with Subterranean finishing fifth to Converge over 1600m in the J J Atkins, despite racing on the worst part of the track.
The horse still has good residual fitness and with the benefit of two recent barrier trials, Dunn expects a bold showing when he resumes in the Up And Coming Stakes.
“He hasn’t bumped into anything that is topline yet so he needs to measure up, but I think he will,” Dunn said.
“Every time we’ve asked him to take the next step he’s done it and hopefully this is another example of that.”
Subterranean, who will be ridden by Hugh Bowman, is on the third line of betting at $7 behind $2.60 Sportsbet favourite Tiger Of Malay and Tulloch Lodge galloper Concocted at $6.50.
