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By Ray Hickson

It’s fair to say Matt Dunn has mastered the art of the TAB Highway but it wasn’t always that way.

With a strike rate of better than one in four, 83 starters for 23 winners, he looms large over any Highway when he sends a horse on the 10 hour trip from Murwillumbah.

Trainer Matthew Dunn and wife Keira. (Pic: Grant Guy).

And on Saturday at Rosehill he’ll become the second country trainer, after Danny Williams, to pass the $1 million prizemoney mark (currently $991,750) via his runners Our Echo and Rest Of The World.

Interestingly, it wasn’t until the 41st TAB Highway race that Dunn posted his first winner, Quatronic, and the trainer admits there was plenty of trial and error in getting the formula right.

“It took four or five goes to figure out the best time to travel that suits most horses,’’ Dunn said.

“Then we decided Wednesday night was the right timeframe. It gives them time to get over the trip but not too much that they are away from home too long.

“The biggest issue we face is what you do with them when you get them home because they can’t stay (in Sydney). Because our travel time is so long we can’t aim them at one then another one in two weeks time.

“You nearly need a Brisbane Saturday class horse to win them. It was difficult to justify the big trip and the expense but when the prizemoney went up that’s when we really jumped on board.’’

Dunn said it costs about $2500 a horse to send to Sydney including transport costs for both horse and staff with wife Keira representing the stable most of the time.

They typically return on the Monday or Tuesday after so it takes up almost a whole week of their life to contest the race.

Highway races commenced at $40,000 in October 2015, when Quatronic won Dunn’s first the races were $60,000 and thanks to further increases they currently stand at $75,000.

Saturday’s race is the 160th Highway and the initiative will reach $10 million in prizemoney allocated come the July 13 meeting this year.

Dunn is proud of the stable’s achievement and strike rate and says there’s been the added benefit of making his Murwillumbah base more attractive to owners.

“I’ve got lots of horses in my stable that wouldn’t be here without them and that’s bigger than the prizemoney side of things,’’ he said.

“With the business it generates, because we compete and win lots of them people want to be involved.

“We have a decent size pool of horses to pick from. It’s a help when you can pick and choose but it’s working well.’’

So after Lifesaver handed Dunn win number 23 last Saturday, what does he make of Our Echo and Rest Of The World’s prospects of adding to the tally?

Our Echo runs sixth at Doomben on May 11

Our Echo faces a huge drop in class into the Highway after running sixth in the Listed Queensland Day Stakes (1350m) at Doomben on May 11.

The gelding races in blinkers for the first time and Dunn expects them to work wonders.

“He’s probably just out of his depth in Brisbane at the moment but he fits in a Highway race really well,’’ he said.

“He’s a proper Saturday grade Brisbane horse.

“We considered the blinkers before his last start but decided against it. In hindsight we should have because he was a bit stop start in that race.’’

Our Echo is $3.10 TAB favourite but Dunn warns not to undersell Rest Of The World who was a debut winner at Grafton before hitting the line well into second at Ipswich, suggesting the 1400m on Saturday will suit.

“He’s a decent horse in the making and is not a whole lot behind Our Echo it’s just the experience,’’ he said.

“I think he’ll roll forward and find a spot hopefully in the first few.’’

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's meeting at Rosehill Gardens