Matthew Dunn’s quest for NSW country trainers premiership gains momentum

Trainer Matthew Dunn can make the race for NSW Country Premiership a cliffhanger should he lead in another swag of winners on Friday.

Trainer Matthew Dunn can make a late surge for top NSW Country Trainer honours this season. Picture: Getty Images

Matthew Dunn’s hunt for a first NSW Country Trainers Premiership hinges on what shapes as potential swag of winners on this Northern Rivers meeting.

Dunn’s tally of winners on country tracks around the state this season is 64, five behind the current leaders Annabel and Rob Archibald.

The Master of Murwillumbah and King of the Highway, hasn’t been keeping score but now that the Premiership is ‘in play’, every winner counts for more.

“I didn’t even know to be honest,” Dunn said.

“I don’t think we have won one before so it would cap off a good season.

“We’ve had a better season than what it looks because we’ve had 20-odd meetings cancelled up here this season so we should be well clear of them if those meetings had of gone ahead.

Matthew Dinn’s stable apprentice, Jett Newman, rides Insinuate and Torque Te Amo. Picture: Grant Peters Photography

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“It would be fantastic if we could (win the Premiership) but I don’t think we’ve got enough time to get five, but hopefully, fingers crossed.”

The 2024/25 season ends on July 31.

Aside from the sheer size of his win tally, it is Dunn’s incredible strike-rate of 28.5 per cent that underpins his epic season.

“Someone else told me that the other day,” Dunn said.

“That’s huge, it’s getting close to one in three.

“I think that would be the best strike-rate we’ve had - ever.

“We obviously race a few horses in Brisbane and in Highways but country racing is the lifeblood of the stable.

“Where we’re positioned, we are lucky that we’ve got access to a number of very good tracks on the Northern Rivers and we support those tracks as strongly as we possibly can.

“It would be great to have a stable full of city horses but we don’t have that and the fact that we are able to place them so well and get through their grades, it is a real positive there for the stable.”

Dunn saddles-up runners in five races here including a half-sister to an Everest winner, a ‘nephew’ of a Melbourne Cup winner as well as a direct descendant of the immortal Eight Carat.

Dunn’s ‘Everest sibling’ is the $510,000 Easter Yearling purchase, Insinuate, who is a Snitzel half-sister to Yes Yes Yes.

Part-owned by Widden Stud, Insinuate has a win and three placings in her four runs for Dunn and will look to add another in the Country Boosted Benchmark 58.

It's @MattyDunnRacing and @mallyon_andrew again... that's a treble at Murwillumbah! So You Can Torque rounds up his rivals from back in the field. pic.twitter.com/e5JmRceIex

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) December 13, 2024

“She has been really consistent since coming to me, even though she only got a couple (of runs) left in her before she will pull up stumps at the end of this prep and go and breed a foal.

“They sent her to me hoping to improve her resume a little bit and build up a bank and she’s done a good job of it.

“She tries her little heart out every time she goes to the races.

Dunn, meanwhile, is also bullish on the chances of Castelvecchio filly and Eight Carat descendant Torque Ti Amo in the Country Boosted Maiden Handicap who was an eye-catcher in the Super Maiden on South Grafton Cup Day.

“The stablemate (Gaylord) that beat her the other day, he obviously had good Sydney form a little while ago before I got him and she (Torque Ti Amo) was excellent,” he said.

“That track raced pretty on-pace most of the carnival she raced against that and I thought the step up in trip would help.

“She’s a nice filly. She’s got a future.”

One of Dunn’s other main winning prospects is So You Can Torque in the Class 1 Handicap whose dam is a half-sister to Melbourne Cup winner, Vow And Declare.

“I have got a bit of time for him,” Dunn said.

“He’s going to get there but he is a slow learner.”

â–  â–  â–  â–  â– 

On Monday week, Peter Robl will be trackside at Fannie Bay on a quest for back-to-back Darwin Cups with the former Sydneysider Hadouken.

A one-time Randwick trainer himself and now based on the Gold Coast, Robl will be headed south with Hadouken’s four-year-old stablemates National Goal and Princess Shanghai in action south of the Tweed.

Bred in Queensland, National Defense’s current personal best came at Lismore in February when a close and closing runner-up in a 1310m Super Maiden.

His most recent performance was at Murwillumbah on June 26 when clocking in with two behind him in the 12 horse 1200m maiden.

“He’s a great chance,” Robl said of the gelding in the Lismore Floor Coverings Maiden Plate.

“I thought he just wasn’t ready when he ran first-up, that’s why he went back to the trials.

“I think the step-up in distance suits him ideally and he’s drawn to probably get a nice run in the box-seat.”

🏎️ Leica Pherrari bolts away late and wins at Gatton! pic.twitter.com/FNljKKEHgJ

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 9, 2025

National Goal is the fifth foal of the Eagle Farm winning Redoute’s Choice mare Moore who holds sibling status to the Bendigo Cup winner, Zupacool.

Robl’s other runner on the card, Princess Shanghai in the XXXX Gold Maiden Plate, was placed in a 860m maiden at Gatton at her first start under his management in May.

That said, the daughter of Nature Strip’s sire Nicconi has been underwhelming in her subsequent two but is open to improvement, says the man who booted home four Group 1 winners back in the day.

“She had a few behavioural issues come race-day but I think the step up to 1100m will suit her,” Robl said.

“I think she needs to find the front and find it comfortably so if she can do that, it will give her a chance just to relax and breathe properly which should realistically bring on a better run from her.

“She has ability but she does herself no favours.”

Robl, meanwhile, will arrive in Darwin early next week to put the final touches on the 2024 Darwin Cup winner, Hadouken, for his August 4 mission.

“He’s shaping up perfectly,” Robl reported

“He’ll have a little 900m trial next Tuesday just to top him off for the Cup the following Monday.

“He won the Chief Minister’s Cup (last start) which is one of the main lead-ups to the Darwin Cup and he beat Cinque Torri who when we met in the Cup, we are actually going to get weight off him.”