An Ace up Stan Dunlop’s sleeve 

By Peter Wharton 

Cambridge breeder-owner Stan Dunlop showed astute judgment when he outlaid a modest $1500 for the Mark Lobell mare Denmark at a dispersal sale at Palmerston North in 1993. 

One of Denmark’s foals in Carnlough Bay (by Camtastic) ranks as the dam of one of the greats of modern day Australian pacing in Smoken Up. 

Smoken Ace
Photography: Stuart McCormick

In a glittering career Smoken Up won 74 races with 54 placings from 153 starts and $3,607,985 in stakes including the Miracle Mile twice, Victoria Cup, the SA Pacing Cup on four occasions, the NZ Free-for-all and five heats of the Inter Dominion. 

A decade later Dunlop has produced another potential topliner from the same family as Smoken Up. 

It is the brilliant unbeaten two-year-old Smoken Ace. 

A colt by Sportswriter, Smoken Ace, who is raced by Dunlop and close friends Grant Stone and Dennis Monk, has won at his only five appearances so far including a convincing win at Melton recently. 

Smoken Ace will get his shot at the big bucks on offer in Victoria in the next two months. 

“He’s been nominated for the Tatlow Stakes and we paid the late entry fee for the Breeders Crown,” Dunlop said. 

Smoken Ace’s dam, Smoken Su, raced only twice and was sent to the stud as a four-year-old. 

Her first issue Magilligan Point (by Gotta Go Cullect) won four races including the 2020 Rotorua Cup and $51,809 in stakes and took a record of 1:56. 

Next to the cover of Changeover she produced Smoken Shazza (1:56.9), a winner of six races in NZ, Victoria and NSW, followed by Whooshka (by Sportswriter), who has won six races to date for $55,619 and holds a record of 1:56.5. 

Smoken Ace is her fourth foal and her fifth is the Captain Crunch yearling filly Crunchen Sue. 

Both were broken in and are being prepared by former Cambridge horseman Kyle Marshall, now based at Cranbourne, south of Melbourne. 

“Kyle is very happy with the filly. He thinks she’s very smart,” Dunlop stated. 

Smoken Su is due to foal to Bettor’s Delight. 

A daughter of the Inter Dominion champion Elsu, Smoken Su is out of Rose Mathias, by Il Vicolo from Dynamic Lady (1:58.8), by Midshipman from the Mark Lobell mare Dynamic, a sister to Denmark, the grand-dam of Smoken Up. 

Other members of this fine family have been the Manawatu Cup and Palmerstonian Classic winner Dynamic Motoring (1:53.2) and the exported Dynamic Lass 1:53.2 ($169,454).