Matt Dunn declares all in on The Kosciuszko with huge $40,000 ticket spend looming

In-form Murwillumbah trainer Matt Dunn will attempt to pull together one of the largest syndicates seen to buy a stack of raffle tickets in the hope of landing a slot in next month’s $2m The Kosciuszko.

Trainer Matt Dunn is hoping a $40,000 ticket splash will secure Kosciuszko slots for the likes of Boom Torque (top right) and Tribeca Star.

Matt Dunn is one of the hottest trainers in the country this season and says he is prepared to go all in to land a slot in The Kosciuszko next month.

The Murwillumbah trainer, who notched 18 winners in August at an astonishing strike rate of almost 30 per cent, has declared he will pull together up to $40,000 through a syndicate to buy Kosciuszko raffle tickets.

Slots for the rich $2m country race are chosen from raffle ticket holders and Dunn says he has crunched the numbers in search of a big payday on October 19.

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Dunn, who trains leading fancy Boom Torque along with other contenders such as Rainbow Connection, Tribeca Star and Don’t Forget Jack, is yet to win the race but says he is going all out this time around.

“We will be buying some tickets, so hopefully we can draw one, maybe two,” Dunn said.

“This is the first time we have done it like this, we haven’t done it before.

“I’m not sure if a stable has done it before, you see syndicates like pubs and those things do it, they spend big money and usually get one or two.

“On previous years’ numbers, it works out if you spend $30,000, you are nearly one-in-two chance of getting one.

“If you spend $30,000, most of the (prizemoney) splits are 50/50, or close to that, so it can be a half-million dollar result if your horse wins, which is not a bad return.

Murwillumbah-based trainer Matthew Dunn.

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“It will go to our client base and it will be up to $40,000 or up to a certain cut off date to get in the syndicate.

“If you can jag two (slots), you really are holding the aces.

“We have four good sprinters there, they are genuine Saturday horses and that is what you need to be competitive in that race.”

Since returning to training at Murwillumbah, Dunn has enjoyed a golden run of form and says he is set to expand to 100 boxes in the near future.

Dunn tried his luck training in Sydney, but could never get momentum from a small base and says he is able to sharpen his focus better from his Murwillumbah base.

“The Sydney thing was an experiment, it wasn’t hopeless, but it was too hard and didn’t work,” he said.

“The bottom line was we couldn’t get any stables down there, you can’t compete with 24 boxes in Sydney.

“It is working really well since I got back to Murwillumbah, I have 90 there at the moment and will do a bit of work to get it to 100.”

Ticket sales for The Kosciuszko close next Monday, September 9.

Originally published as Matt Dunn declares all in on The Kosciuszko with huge $40,000 ticket spend looming