In many way’s it’s an age-old story; the good girl gone bad.
A rebellious phase that so many parents would be well aware of as their daughters pass through teenage years.
But for Aaron Dunn and his father Barry, there has almost been as much at stake with their talented three-year-old pacer Nikkibadwagon.
She’s been a lovable rogue in her short career today.
In fact some might say more rogue than lovable, however that may all be starting to turn around as we head towards the Group 1 $115,000 Empire Stallions Vicbred Super Series Saturday night.
We won’t put the mozz on them because she’s only just back in the draw for the first time in a while but having given the team grief earlier this season both her heat and Semi-Final run were as close to flawless as you could expect.
It’s hard to put the improvement down to any one change in her routine but like any rebellious youngster, a bit of time and care has undoubtedly had an influence.
“I didn’t really have the time to be working her every day as well as running my seed cleaning business,” her driver Aaron Dunn said.
“It’s probably just about routine because a couple of times when I had to go away for work and I only got back a couple of days before she raced, that’s when she really played up.”
Therein lay the problem which Dunn knew he had to try to rectify.
“I ended up training up a new worker,” he said.
That took time however and the Horsham-based reinsman was back and forth between work and Nikki until he was able to set up properly with the business.
Since having more hours to spend with the filly the two have clearly bonded.
Ironically now that Dunn is with her more often, she took to kicking out at Barry when he jumped aboard after a stint on the sidelines at home.
While things are looking up now, it’s fair to say the ups and downs have been apparent.
Back in late February the team drove all the way from Horsham for the last race at Melton on a Friday night.
The filly had a different idea, buckjumping through the entire pre-race warm-up and then kicking the cart to smithereens in the score-up before being forced to scratch late.
“It was really disappointing that night because we thought it was a race we could win. That’s in the past now though and while you can never be certain she does seem to be over a lot of her issues,” Dunn said.
“She’s actually not too bad to handle at home, we clipped her the other day and she wasn’t a problem. Sometimes she’ll dig her heels in but nothing like what we’ve seen on race day.”
It’s a seriously engaging story and one that pinches a theme from the thoroughbred and AFL worlds too.
For those that don’t remember Robert Groenewegen, he’s an ex-Footscray forward who now manages Aurora Stadium in Tasmania.
He owns a share thanks to an association with Aaron Dunn’s brother who is the ground curator.
Much like Makybe Diva (Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Diane and Vanessa), Nikkibadwagon gets her name from a mash-up of all her owners rather than an indicator of her behaviour.
“One of the owners is Nick Bauld (Nikki), my brother’s name is Bryan Anthony Dunn (BAD) and Robert’s nickname was the Wagon so that’s how she came to be,” Dunn said.
“At the start I’m not sure I really thought much of it but once they start to perform on the track it’s much easier to like.”
So to the race that Nikki has been marked a $13 chance with TAB Fixed Odds where she’ll need to take down the might of Emma Stewart with Rocknroll Magic deep into the tomato sauce.
That filly has drawn the second row though.
“I’m not too sure how the start will play out. My filly doesn’t have a whole lot of obvious gate speed but it’s a Group 1 so I’ll have to be doing my best early,” Dunn said.
“I’ve found it’s probably a mistake to try to put the brakes on with her anyway, in the Oaks trial at Ballarat I took her back early and that’s when she did make a mistake.”
Regardless of where she lands, the daughter of Shadow Play proved in Vicbred her heat that she can sustain a three-wide run in a very quick last half and still be fighting hard at the end.
Much like the good girl gone bad we spoke of to begin with, this story could potentially have a positive ending but we won’t find out until Saturday night.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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