Dexter Dunn chases elusive win in "The Hambo"

By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk 

This weekend Kiwi star Dexter Dunn will be out to win one of the few big races to have eluded him during his highly successful stint in North America  - the Hambletonian at The Meadowlands in New Jersey.

A five-time USA Driver of the Year and 10-time New Zealand champion, Dunn partners with the Marcus Melander-trained Apex. They have drawn three for the $1m race.

They head into the final on the back of a 1:50.8 win in the Hambletonian elimination last weekend. Big Ranger and Tim Tetrick won the other elimination. 

"I wouldn't want to be behind any other horse," Dunn told Trackside's Brittany Graham in an interview broadcast last Friday. 

"We are very happy with the way he's come back this year and he's an outstanding horse."

Dunn has never won "The Hambo", one of the world's most famous and prestigious races for the three-year-old trotters though he was third last year with Amazing Catch.

A win would cap off a huge few weeks for Dunn.

He recently passed $100m in career earnings in North America, since moving there permanently around eight years ago, and then last month took out the  Meadowlands Pace with Brandon Blvd.

"That was right up there with winning the Miracle Mile in with Christen Me (2014)," he told Graham, "it was a big thrill."

This year Dunn is the third highest earner in North America with $5.5m (138 wins) to trail Jason Bartlett $7.5m and Yannick Gingras $5.9m.

This weekend's race will be the 101st edition of the Hambo. Hall of Famer John Campbell has the most wins with six. Remarkably he drove in the Hambo 32 years in a row!

The race is named in honour of Hambletonian 10, a foundation sire of the Standardbred horse breed, also known as the "Father of the American Trotter."