The ‘Mikis’ Proving to Be Diamonds for Dunn
By Rob Courtney

With the stud career of Art Major nearing its end, Alabar stallion Always B Miki (shared with Nevele R Stud) is certainly putting his hand up to take over the mantle as the flagship sire of that high-profile breeding establishment.

Cool For Cats unwinds stylishly to upset in the G2 Delightful Lady Classic

Anyone who has a “good one” will likely tell any would-be listener that their charge wasn’t a natural two-year-old, but with time, has just gotten better and better—and they appear to have plenty of “bottom” to them.

Senior horseman Johnny Dunn must surely be thinking that after securing two big wins over the weekend—big for quite different reasons.

Firstly, on Premier Night at Alexandra Park, and at only her fourth start, Cool For Cats (2f Always B Miki – Bunter’s Dream) came from what looked like a hopeless position 800m out to spoil the undefeated record of Aussie raider Ripples in the Group 2 Delightful Lady Classic, stopping the clock in 1:56.6 MR.

Then, two days later at Rangiora, Celestial Sea received no favours in the running of a heat of the Anne Thompson Graduation Series, but still had the energy to guts out a win over 2000m in a 1:59.3 MR at just her sixth raceday start.

The latter had four starts as a two-year-old (one placing) against the best of her age group but has clearly improved dramatically since then.

Ironically, both fillies were bred by the Bains family from Central Otago and both hail from staunch breeding backgrounds.

Originally named Wattlebank Queen (the name Wattlebank is attached to all of the ‘Bains babies’), Cool For Cats was a $14,000 purchase by Diamond Racing (RJ Dunn & family) at the 2024 yearling sales in Christchurch. She now has over 400 owners enjoying her as a racing proposition thanks to the ‘unhinged’ enthusiasm of Nigel Armstrong.

She is the first foal from the one-win mare Bunter’s Dream, who the Bains secured in 2022 as a commercial broodmare. She is a daughter of multiple Group 1-winning filly Western Dream (including the NZ Oaks).

Western Dream won 14 races in total for prominent Southland breeder Vin Devery, and her immediate family has simply been a ‘goldmine’ for connections and those lucky enough to get a slice of the action.

She did breed on, producing Western Cullen, who won at Group 1 level in Australia on his way to 19 wins and over $447,000 in stakes—one of five winners.

Her dam Dreamy Atom (6 wins) was not only the 2YO Filly of the Year (1993/94) but later bred to such good effect that she was named Pacing Broodmare of the 2019/20 season. It certainly helped leaving the likes of Christian Dreamer (qualified but unraced), who in turn left millionaire pacer Amazing Dream (20 wins and 12 placings from only 36 NZ starts).

At the 2023 Christchurch yearling sales, Robert Dunn went to $20,000 to secure Wattlebank Poll, now named Celestial Sea. She is the fourth foal (third filly) from her dam Change Time, with the previous three Wattlebanks all listed as winners.

Change Time fashioned a very handy record, winning seven times from 37 starts for Ken Barron and earning around $76,000 in stakes.

From a breeding perspective, she is a daughter of Chaangerr (6 wins), making her a half-sister to 10 winners, most notably NZ Cup winner and successful sire Changeover (29 wins and $2.3M in stakes).

Chaangerr was from Nells Pride (6 wins), who also left Chokin (34 wins, NZ Cup, and $1.8M). Another daughter, Pretty Smooth, left the very good 16-win pacer Anvil Vance.

Both of these Dunn-trained fillies—especially with their bloodlines—look more than capable of going on to bigger and better things.

John Dunn will be the first to admit there have been some challenges along the way, but with his expert guidance, the future indeed looks bright for these two rising stars.

It would appear that the Mikis do get better with time—and that’s certainly going to mean plenty of fun times for a large group of lucky owners.