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By Ray Hickson

There’s no doubt Matthew Dunn has strength in numbers but the leading country trainer says he’s sending more quality into Saturday's Newhaven Park Northern Rivers Country Championships at Grafton than ever before.

Trainer Matthew Dunn (Pic: Bradley Photos).

Dunn won the 2020 Final at Randwick with Gracie Belle and the 2024 edition mark’s his return to the exclusively country series since the closure of his city base.

The Murwillumbah trainer won the Northern Rivers feature three years running with Perfect Dare, Snitz and La Scopa between 2017-19, ironically Gracie Belle was runner-up in her year, and he’ll have five or six horses vying to contest the $1 million Final in April.

He said of his seven acceptances, Fukubana was unlikely to back up from his Brisbane win last weekend while Oceans Of Energy has been scratched but he’s rapt with the horses that will take their place.

“It’s the best team I’ve had over the years,’’ Dunn said.

“I had seven in it one year but these horses are a class above those horses. These are by far the strongest group, absolutely.

“There’s probably three big chances – Tribeca Star, Rainbow Connection and Emperor. They are three genuine Saturday grade horses and probably better.”

Dunn doesn’t back away from the face that top weight Emperor is a risk at running out a strong 1400m but isn’t prepared to say in country grade he couldn’t win on Saturday.

The gelding had his first attempt at the trip at Eagle Farm two weeks ago and loomed to win before Daytona Bay kicked back to beat him.

“He’s probably not a 1400m horse but from that gate he just parks in the box seat or a couple of pairs back and does no work,’’ he said.

“I don’t know whether I want to completely condemn him on that (Brisbane run).

“The winner’s handy, they walked and it might have just given a good kick. They came away from the rest of the field, it wasn’t as if he got there and fainted.

“In all reality probably 1400m is too far for him but I don’t know around (Grafton) it’s going to be, Randwick might be a different story if he gets through to there.”

Rainbow Connection is a horse Dunn has long held a big opinion of and he’s had his troubles over the past couple of seasons but hits the Country Championships ready to peak.

He was a soft Ipswich winner second-up then jumped to 1400m and was beaten just over half a length by Bettcha The Crown in a Class 3 at Eagle Farm.

“If there’s one horse that’s had a proper preparation it’s him,’’ he said.

“He’s getting to the right distance at the right time.”

It’s been a long road to the Country Championships for Tribeca Star but Dunn said it’s been partly planned that way so he’s been given time between runs.

The four-year-old resumed back in September, was a Highway winner in November and hit the line into second at Eagle Farm just under a month ago with a tickover trial since.

“We’ve spaced his runs and made sure that he can stay in work for a long time,’’ he said.

“He’s in a perfect spot, he handles soft ground if it happens to be that.”

Matt Dunn on Al Ash Lad: “If the track races on pace he’s really good when he gets a spot in front. He’s won races by big spaces when he can go and lead and that’s what he’ll do. If that’s the case you couldn’t put the pen through him. Both his runs have looked wobbly, the other day he went too fast and was always going to fold up.”

On Belvedere Boys: “He might run, he ran the other day then travelled back home. He just got no luck in the straight and should have won for sure. He’s a horse on the improve.”

Emperor runs second at Eagle Farm on February 3

On Veandechance: “If it’s wet we’ll run for sure because she’s a swimmer. She’s probably not as good as the others but if it’s wet she is. She got a bit lost in Sydney, she’s been scratched a few times from bad gates. Her runs have been okay.”

Early Country Championships favourite Derry Grove didn’t accept for the regional final so he’s not eligible to contest the Wild Card and Dunn’s content with his decision.

“We decided to leave him in Sydney and he’ll run next week at Rosehill,’’ he said.

“He’d probably get (1400m) at Lismore and beat them but it’s a different story when you get to Randwick. We did think about it but it’s something he didn’t need to do.”

Meanwhile, classy gelding Cepheus is set to resume in the Group 3 Liverpool City Cup (1300m) at Randwick on March 2.

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Country Championships meeting at Grafton