Sundons Gift's quest for a third-straight SEW-Eurodrive Australian Trotting Grand Prix will be carried out from barrier three
It's the showdown trotting fans have been waiting for, but Chris Lang remains unsure of who might prevail when his stable stars clash in tomorrow night's SEW-Eurodrive Australian Trotting Grand Prix at Melton's Tabcorp Park.
Inter Dominion hero Sundons Gift and dual Breeders Crown champ Skyvalley will meet for the first time in 10 months in $100,000 feature that headlines night one of the SEW-Eurodrive Victoria Cup Carnival.
Skyvalley - a winner of his past six starts - has had a better preparation, but faces a back-row draw (nine), while Sundons Gift failed to flatter first-up in last week's Cranbourne Trotters Cup but he has drawn perfectly in gate three.
"From the barrier, at some point Skyvalley is going to have to do some work and put himself into the race and I would have liked his chances a lot better if he drew three," the Nagambie trainer-driver said.
"But he's very well and his work has been just as you would want it to be going into his toughest test.
"Obviously Sundons Gift has got to improve, but in saying that last week was not a good race for him - the preferential draw was always against him - and the way the race unfolded he never got a chance to get into it.
"He hasn't had the preparation you would really want to have had for a race like this, but in saying that the drop in distance to 2200m from 2500m (the past two years) suits at this stage of his campaign and he has drawn well."
Sundons Gift is shooting for a historic third-straight win in the 2240m event that was first run in 2001 and has been won by greats including La Coocaracha, Take A Moment, Sumthingaboutmaori and A Touch Of Flair.
He is backing up after finishing eighth, more than 17m from winner Will Trapper, in a talent-laden Cranbourne Trotters Cup last Saturday night.
Sundons Gift will be partnered by Lang, who has driven the eight-year-old to his previous two Grand Prix wins, while his son Chris Jnr will be behind the five-year-old stablemate.
It will be the first time they have met since the Inter Dominion Trotting Final on February 7, when Skyvalley finished sixth, almost 17m astern Sundons Gift.
TAB Sportsbet thinks Skyvalley can turn the tables in the 9.40pm event, installing him the $2.30 favourite with Sundons Gift on the third line at $5
Splitting them is last-start Dominion Handicap winner Springbank Richard ($2.50), who Lang considers the hardest to beat after coming up with the coveted inside barrier.
