Matt Dunn moves on from Magic Millions disappointment ahead of exciting colt Torque To Be Sure's return at Eagle Farm
After being stuck in a Gold Coast Magic Millions pickle, one of the best youngsters Matt Dunn may have ever trained returns to the races on Saturday.
Torque To Be Sure had qualified for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic in January but needed to trial before stewards' satisfaction in race week after a bar was placed on him because of his racing manners.
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Torque To Be Sure had started the $1.55 favourite in the Aquis Gold Nugget but finished runner-up after racing ungenerously and being steadied on numerous occasions as well as hanging out.
With the Magic Millions only a week away, stewards ordered Torque To Be Sure back to the trials before they would pass him to race.
Dunn found a set of Lismore trials on the Thursday – only two days before the Gold Coast Magic Millions – but decided it was too close to the $3m race and instead sent him for a spell.
As it turned out, the 2YO Classic was rescheduled to the following week because of torrential rain on race day but Torque To Be Sure was already in the spelling paddock.
It was an annoying situation but, regardless, Dunn is sure he has a high-quality colt on his hands.
Torque To Be Sure resumes in the Listed Dalrello Stakes (1000m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday where he has been strongly backed from his opening $6 price into the $4 favourite.
Quietly Arrogant too good in the Aquis Gold Nugget ðŸ'° @blake_shinn @SnowdenRacing1 pic.twitter.com/JESyvyC6Vn
— 7HorseRacing ðŸ�Ž (@7horseracing) January 4, 2025
'I was very close to trialling him just before the Magic Millions to try to get him cleared to take his place, but I wasn't quite brave enough,' Dunn said.
'We were looking at trialling Thursday and running Saturday but I couldn't quite convince myself to do it.
'As it turned out, it would have been fine as the Magic Millions was postponed and run seven days later anyway.
'Everything has gone well with this colt since, he trialled a couple of times in April and he was perfect.
'He has got those extra few months of maturity now.'
While Saturday's race is over the 1000m scamper, Dunn has aspirations of getting his colt to the 1600m of the Group 1 JJ Atkins on Stradbroke Handicap day in June.
With that in mind, he wants jockey Andrew Mallyon to ride the colt back in the field and rattle home on Saturday.
'He is a very good horse, a very fast horse,' Dunn said.
'If you take his last run out of the equation, he has got the right attitude.
'As long as his brain lets him, he has got a pedigree to run a mile.
'Honestly, on Saturday, it's not the end of the world if he gets too far back and gets beaten.
'I'd much rather see him get back and finish at a million miles and hour and just miss, rather than over do things in the race.'
Torque To Be Sure is still yet to break his maiden status, having finished runner-up at both starts including on debut in the $250,000 The Debut race at the Gold Coast in December.
Dunn had intended stablemate Boom Torque to race in Sunday's $1m The Archer slot race in Rockhampton, in the first plank of a plan to lead to the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap.
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