‘Good for the town, but good for me’: Dar Lunn’s 50-year journey to Elson Boy fame

Dar Lunn reckons he was 14, maybe 15, but they’re only minor details. He does remember it was the old dusty Baradine races, though. He was minding his own business as a horse-mad teen, one who had dabbled in bull and steer riding as a kid, when the PA crackled to life.

Dar Lunn, are you on course?

He was, but so were many other people. What could the stewards and the secretary possibly want to see him for?

Dar Lunn riding a winner on Chivas Lane.Credit: Fairfax Media

“They said, ‘Are you still riding trackwork?’ I wasn’t an apprentice or anything,” Lunn said with a laugh.

They were down a rider for the next race, and in true country style, needed someone to step up for it to go ahead. Lunn wasn’t even an apprentice, let alone a fully fledged rider, but he chucked on some gear and was legged aboard a horse with apparently no rider.

“The horse ran third,” he said. “They said, ‘When you turn the right age, you can just start riding’.”

So he did, fulfilling an ambition that still has him riding his best horse in trackwork most days at the age of 64 – nearly 50 years since his first race ride.

“We weren’t big people [in our family],” Lunn said. “I went to school at Walgett – 44 miles in, 44 miles out on the bus – and I had an old uncle in there, and he said, ‘Why don’t you come in and stay and ride trackwork for me?’ I was about 10 or 11, so that’s what I did; I rode work in the morning and then went to school.

“When I was about 14 years and nine months the teacher said, ‘What are you going to do when you leave school?’ I said, ‘I’m going to become a jockey’. He said, ‘You can leave when you’re 14 years and nine months’. The very next day I brought in a letter to him and said, ‘I’ll be gone tomorrow’.”

Elson Boy (left) makes it six straight at Rosehill in June 15.Credit: Getty

There have been many tomorrows since that day, but few have been as exciting as those recently. Lunn, who rode in races as a jockey until he was 50 when a horse kicked him, breaking ribs and lacerating his liver, is now training from Dubbo with the best horse he might ever have.

Elson Boy will chase his seventh straight win at Royal Randwick on Saturday. No horse has won as many races in NSW this season as Elson Boy. Lunn was given the horse as an unraced $6000 online buy from Mark Newnham’s yard. He’s now got a cult-hero following.

Most days, Lunn still rides Elson Boy in work. His brother, Garry, is 66 and still puts his own horses through their paces.

“I still enjoy it,” Lunn said. “If you’ve got a horse and he doesn’t feel right and you throw a trackwork rider on him and send him out to do whatever, he’ll work it and you will say, ‘How did he go?’ They will say, ‘Good’. But if you ride it yourself and they don’t feel right, you won’t do that work with them.

“He’s a nice horse to ride work, but coming home you’ve got to watch him because he’s like a cat on a hot tin roof. He’ll jump up, kick high and carry on. Apart from that, he’s a pleasure to ride.

“He hasn’t thrown me yet, but he’s tried a few times.”

Apprentice jockey Chelsea Hiller returns to scale after winning on Elson Boy.Credit: Getty Images

Naturally, Elson Boy gets preferential treatment at home. When Lunn was forced out of his small stabling area at Dubbo, he found some day yards next door, where his horses braved the elements. He found a box for Elson Boy at a neighbouring trainer, with a roof on it.

These days, he only has five in work and Elson Boy will travel down the Mitchell Highway to Sydney looking to keep the fairytale story going.

“When a horse starts stringing six or seven wins together, I just train the horse and hope for the best,” Lunn said with a shrug.

“The more they win, the more the penalty they get and the higher the benchmark. He’s not winning ordinary races, he’s winning good races. It’s a good thing you can get a horse that can win six straight. There’s a lot of people that ask me about him and what I do with him and where we are going.

“It’s good for the town, but it’s especially good for me.”

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