By Matt Markham
Opportunities to knock the All Stars off the top spot on the national trainers’ premiership don’t come along that often these days, so Robert and John Dunn are planning to make the most of it.
And if that means racing horses from one end of the country to the other, then so be it.
John, who operates the Woodend Beach branch of the stable with his father Robert in Auckland, confirmed on Sunday that it was their intention to have a real crack at trying to finish on top of the premiership by the end of the season.
The scores are currently locked at 60 wins a piece, and the winner will likely need a figure double that to come out on top and Dunn knows it.
“It won’t be easy, but you don’t get many opportunities to try and beat them in a premiership, so we have to make the most of it,’’ he said.
“They will have plenty of horses stepping out in the next few months which will make it even harder, but I think we have enough nice horses at home that we can get quite a few winners too.
“Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t. But I don’t want to get to the end of the season and think we could have won the premiership when we didn’t have a crack.”
The operation of two stables will be a key part of the drive to the top.
The majority of the stable’s team is based in Canterbury, but the Auckland branch is getting bigger each month and the team they have up there are all good enough to win a few races.
“You take a horse like Robbie Burns, I think he can win a few races this season the way he’s going and we have some nice younger ones coming through down here who should be able to help us out.”
If they are to go on and achieve their goal then the Dunn’s will be relying heavily on gaining a large number of their victories at the more country-type venues where it is often less likely Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen will have horses racing.
Venues like the two day meeting coming up on the West Coast and a return trip to Nelson and Blenheim in the winter are traditionally places where they have a lot of success.
“We’ll have to do a lot of planning and place horses right but I think it can be done.”
The stable will welcome back a familiar face in the next week with Franco Nelson joining the team again.
The former NZ Trotting Cup runner-up looked well below his best when beaten behind Smolda in the Hunter Cup and the decision has been made to return him to the stable that took him to Harness Jewels and NZ Messenger glory as a four-year-old.
Dunn’s wife Jenna will take a share in the entire.
“I’m excited to be getting him back, he arrives in Auckland on Friday.”
In their effort to ascertain some sort of a lead on the Purdon and Rasmussen stable before they really kick back into gear will see the Dunn stable step into new waters today with a team of runners at Manawatu.
Stable junior driver, Matt Purvis has travelled North with five horses.
“I think Windfall would probably be one of our better chances, he went very well at Ashburton last time out.
“Donegal Jimmy Dave and Mr Meddle are in the same race, but they have been racing in stronger fields so should be able to go pretty close too.”
The stable will also be represented by Quest For Fame and Janice’s Cullen, who are both maidens who should relish the drop in class on the first day of the two-day meeting in Palmerston North.
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