They may have recently secured stables at Rosehill, but Murwillumbah will always be home for Matt and Kiera Dunn. That’s why they are on a mission to win the inaugural Big Dance with Impasse on Tuesday.
The married couple built their careers in Murwillumbah and more than once have had to rebuild their stables and house as floods have swept through northern NSW, while also expanding their operation to include stables in the city.
Co-trainer Kiera Dunn with Impasse.Credit:Edwina Pickles
“If you told me 12 years ago when we got a $1.3 million loan to buy the house and stables that we would be running in a $2 million race at Randwick because we won the Murwillumbah Cup, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Kiera Dunn said.
“I don’t quite believe it now but it has been Matt’s plan for Impasse. When the race was announced, Matt said to the owners he would like to set it for the Murwillumbah Cup to try to get it into the Big Dance.
“There were months of planning into the Murwillumbah Cup and this has been the goal since.”
It is hard to get the Dunns in the same place at the same time as they split their time between Murwillumbah and Sydney. For the past week, Matt has been up north getting ready for open days at the stable and preparing Rainbow Connection to win in Brisbane on Saturday.
It’s that kind of dedication over the past decade that has led to their business growing beyond northern NSW. They have made the most of the opportunities offered by Racing NSW to encourage country trainers. First, they dominated the Highway Series, winning 25 of the races restricted to country trainers before they finally took the plunge into getting Sydney stables.
“You always have dreams of being a city trainer and the Highways let us make that come true,” Matt Dunn said.
“We were able to show owners that we could get it right with horses, which attracted better horses to the stable.
“It has been tough because Kiera used to be away for a couple of days nearly every week taking the horses to Sydney, so we didn’t see much of each other back then.
“She would go and come back and then go again, but you wouldn’t change it now for what it has done for us. We wouldn’t be at Rosehill now without that hard work and sacrifice. We probably would never have got a horse like Impasse without that success.”
Kiera Dunn also remembers the time apart, saying: “With me being with the horses, Matt knew he didn’t have to be there because they would be right. It allowed him to keep things going in Murwillumbah and get the next ones ready for the Highways.
“We have spent a lot of time apart, but it makes it better now because we appreciate seeing each other more and can see what we have achieved.”
First and foremost, Matt Dunn is a horseman but he also is more than handy with the tools and he built most of the boxes at his Murwillumbah stable.
“When we first started expanding at Murwillumbah, Matt built the boxes and had them held together by cable ties, until he learnt to weld,” Kiera said.
“He is a great problem solver and when we looked at going to Sydney, he got the right people around him to make it happen.
“One of them was [owner and mentor] Steve Grant, who is in Impasse. Without him we are probably still in Murwillumbah. With Steve in the horse, it would make winning on Tuesday more special.”
Matt Dunn approached Grant when COVID hit a couple of years ago because he feared that what he had achieved in the years leading into the pandemic might disappear.
“It probably accelerated our plans a bit,” Dunn said. “We had only a couple of horses good enough for Sydney at the time, but Steve helps us get 15 boxes and helped fill in a way.
“It was the next step for the stable, but we were always going to keep Murwillumbah because it is home.”
Impasse spent his time on the beach leading into the Murwillumbah Cup in August and was trained on the track before winning at $26. He will be a similar quote in the Big Dance.
Matt Dunn knows the locals at the pub will be putting their faith in him on Tuesday.
“He was the horse we thought was our best chance to get here and he is here,” Dunn said. “I know everyone up here [in Murwillumbah] is hoping he can win because he is Murwillumbah’s horse taking on the big boys.
“Kiera has him on song and has been riding him all his work at Rosehill. The thing with him being a big price that it is when he seems to win his races.
“We couldn’t have him any better, the barrier [of 18] doesn’t worry me because he will get back and fly home just as he did in Murwillumbah.”
