With the suspension of Nash Rawiller earlier in the week the prized ride of My Kingdom Of Fife was thrown wide open for next week’s Doomben Cup.

The English import has won three from three since coming to Australia including a Group 1 triumph in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Dwayne Dunn is the man who has come up trumps for the ride and while usually a jockey would mention the misfortune of the other rider, Dunn is rightfully blunt with his assessment.

“Nothing is more disappointing than me getting the drag off him,” he said.

He was referring to his loss of the ride earlier in the season despite winning on him as a 150 to 1 chance in the Doncaster Prelude.

Since then he’s watched on as the horse took out the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth and then won again last start in the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes.

Dunn is clearly anxious to prove himself as the man for the job in front of trainer Chris Waller, who he says was caught a little bit off guard by the Doncaster Prelude performance.

“When he had his first start and Chris put me on he said he’s just going through his paces, I think it surprised him that he got up and won,” he said.

He says that personally he had always had hope for the horse

“He got half way around and started to travel up nicely, Glyn Schofield trialled him before me and said this is an above average horse, his trial was a lot better than it looked,’ he said.

Going into the Doomben Cup the situation is obviously a lot different with plenty of pressure on the horse which will start as one of the favourites.

“The distance is ideal for him and obviously a lot of the big guns have probably been up to their top but he’s on the way up and looks very hard to beat,” he said.

Dunn also has a couple of important rides coming up tomorrow on BTC Cup day.

He’ll ride Count Encosta in the Group 3 Chairman’s Handicap, a horse that promises so much but just struggles to deliver.

“Every time he goes around you think next start, next start,’ he said.

“Horses with good pedigree deserve to be in these races and they can get in and put thier hand up in the grand finals.”

In the main event Group 1 BTC Cup he’ll be well an truly up against it riding No Evidence Needed as the despised outsider against Black Caviar.

While aware his task tomorrow may be a bit beyond her, he has no doubt as to the overall quality fo the mare.

“I think very shortly she’ll be winning a Group 1 race,” he said.

He says he’s delighted to at least have a spot against Black Caviar in such an historic event.

“It’s great for us to be part of it, obviously there’s more and more pressure every time she races,” he said.

“It’d be great to be the one who causes the upset.”