Matt Dunn’s gamble on the yearling market will again be highlighted if one of his two or three-year-old rising stars can complete a great season for the trainer at Doomben.
Dunn has Eat My Trust in Saturday’s Smirnoff 3YO Handicap, Saxton Rock in the QTIS 2 and 3YO Plate, and Snitz in the QTIS 2YO.
Dunn returned from a European holiday last week to watch three-year-old Care To Think win at Doomben.
“He is coming good and you haven’t seen the best of him yet. And it would also be good to finish the season with another win by one of the younger horses,” Dunn said.
“Eat My Trust is only a little bloke but he has done a good job winning three races and picking up good QTIS bonus money.
“Saxton Rock is a two-year-old who you would think on breeding would be a short-course horse but he looks like he wants further like the 1600 metres on Saturday.”
“Snitz ran well last time he was in and he has won a trial at Ballina recently.”
Dunn looks set to pass 100 winners for the season for the second time.
“We had 103 winners two seasons ago and it is not easy to do. You are talking about two winners a week but thanks to hard work from my wife, Keira, and my staff it has been another good year,” Dunn said.
His effort is all the more remarkable because his Murwillumbah stables were flooded earlier this year.
“We were a lot luckier than a lot of people including some of my staff who were really hit hard. But we were able to clean up and get on with things,” Dunn said.
He credits a lot of his success to two major factors – having Keira as his travelling foreman and the work of bloodstock agent Neil Jenkinson.
“To have Keira to be a be able to travel to Sydney with the horses has been a big plus. The work she has done down there has been tremendous and it has led to us getting more horses,” Dunn said.
Several years ago the Dunns decided to change the way they sourced their horses.
“Instead of just taking what we were offered we went out and bought the horses we wanted to race. It is a gamble and people always get left with shares in some horses,” Dunn said.
“But Neil is very highly regarded and he has proved more than his worth in helping us get the right horses from yearling sales.”
Dunn has 53 yearlings about to turn two on his books for next season.
