Cunha chasing Summer Plate glory with Mahon’s

On a busy afternoon of Flat racing where racing is even taking place on his Newmarket doorstep, Dylan Cunha will be taking the trip to Market Rasen on Saturday where his popular Mahon’s Glory takes aim at the Betway Summer Plate Handicap Chase.

The enigmatic 10-year-old has long been the flagship jumps performer amongst the small team of National Hunt horses embedded within the South African-born handler’s predominantly Flat-based Phantom House Stables string.

And it will not be the first time Mahon’s Glory has tried to upstage his speedier stablemates, who enjoy life without the challenge of obstacles.

Cunha explained: “When he won his first race for us at Leicester, Silver Sword won for us in Dubai on the same day, so that was a unique double. Having the jumpers is a bit of fun which we enjoy and it’s great.

“He’s brilliant and a difficult horse to train which is why we got him. But we have lots of fun training him and when he went down the Al Bahathri gallop on Tuesday morning he was a joy to watch.

“It’s amazing as he’s gone all through the winter and spring but he’s just enjoying the summer too so while he’s well he can go racing.”

Mahon’s Glory has won four times in 12 outings since joining Cunha to be trained out of the heartland of British racing in early 2025.

In that time he has performed with real credit over the Grand National fences on three occasions and now heads back to Lincolnshire in search of the generous prize on offer to the winner of Market Rasen’s summer highlight, after winning the trial staged at the track in good style last month.

“He’s in great form and he loves the ground, has a great record at the track and is just in fantastic order,” continued Cunha.

“What we learned when we won there last time is we don’t have to lead with him, we can drop in and sit third of fourth if they go to quick and he’s shown he’s versatile now too which is brilliant.

“He gave the whole field weight when he won there last time and was giving over two stone to the second who was well backed and it was a hell of a performance from him.”