Wealthy Lad moved into second spot on the table for Swettenham Stud’s Summer Championship at Caulfield on Saturday.

The Robert Smerdon trained gelding won Heat 8 of the Championship thanks to a dream ride by Dwayne Dunn.  Settling in the sweet seat behind front-runner Valedictorian, the Aquanita gelding gradually overhauled the pacemaker to score by a short-head.

Wealthy Lad had been fourth home behind Giresun in Heat 3 of the Swettenham Championship on Boxing Day before collecting maximum points in Heat 8.

He has now earned 16 points and is assured of a start in the Final along with Let’s Be Happy who currently tops the table with 18 points.

Wealthy Lad (7g Ladoni – Finance The Fun by Devon Flyer) began his career with Bill Ryan in Tasmania before transferring to the mainland in August 2010.  “He’s a seven year old now and takes a quite a few races to reach peak fitness,” Smerdon said.  “He had four starts this time in and I expected him to improve sharply.”

Wealthy Lad is by Armidale Stud’s Danehill stallion Ladoni who is best known in Melbourne through his outstanding mare Lady Lynette.  His dam Finance The Fun is a sister to G3 Tasmanian Derby winner Devon Sun and she has a yearling filly and a colt on the ground by Ladoni.

The Swettenham Summer Championship consists of 10 Heats and a $100,000 Final at Betfair Park on January 28.  The prize package also includes a trophy and a free service to Swettenham Stud shuttler Equiano.

Earlier in that day at Caulfield, Agrippa scored an on-pace victory in Heat 7 of the Swettenham Stud Summer Championship.

Agrippa (5g Flying Spur – Talista by Snippets) stalked Seguro from the outset and claimed the leader with a strong finish in the final furlong.  The John Sadler trained sprinter-miler was coming off a Flemington victory last month.