JEFF AND RIKKI DUNN UP FOR THE GUINEAS CHALLENGE. ORIENTE MAYBE 100-1, BUT ANY UNDERDOG CAN BITE

By Graham Potter | Thursday, May 1, 2025

It might sound like it is just throwing a couple of clichés around, but the fact remains … ‘if you have got a ticket, you have got a chance’ … and … ‘the horse doesn’t know what price it is.’

So, talking to Jeff and Rikki Dunn, the trainer and rider of Oriente in the Group 2 Queensland Guineas on Saturday, they remain unfazed by the fact that their Guineas runner is unwanted in the betting at odds of over 100-1, although it has been a bit of work to get the horse right for such an assignment.

“He has been a horse that has taken a bit of time mentally,” explained Jeff Dunn. “He always wanted to get on one rein. He was just doing a lot wrong, but we always knew he had ability since he came to us … and it was just for us to get him to race to his ability.

“He is a three-year-old. The Guineas is there. It is a mile. Whilst he hasn’t had a go at the mile yet, I sort of have had it in the back of my mind that it might be something to go for, but we needed his manners to come right before we could really have a throw at it because, if he was going to keep doing things wrong, then he was never going to get the mile.

“He certainly has improved,” continued Dunn. “He seems to be racing more tractably. He has raced on speed. He has raced off the pace and settled in the run. I think that gives him every chance at being able to run the distance. He has drawn a good barrier as well, which helps.

“He finished second over 1350m last time which made me want to have a go at the Guineas. He was three wide on a wet track and that really gave him a very good hit out for the mile … for this run, because he was wide and working the whole way.

“Again, it doesn’t matter what price the horse is or who we are up against. There is not much difference if you are prepping your horse for a big race or prepping him for a Maiden. You still want the horse to be at his best on race-day.”

To give a bit of context, Dunn only has fifteen horses in work including “a lot of young ones.”

It is from that small base that he will be testing Oriente’s best against runners lining up for the likes of some powerhouse stables, such as the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott training partnership, the Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald training partnership, the John O’Shea and Tom Charlton partnership, Tony Gollan and, of course, a two-pronged attack from Chris Waller.

You’d need a calculator to work out how many hundreds of horses those stables have between them … which is one of the reasons Oriente is priced at over 100-1.

“If things go our way and we get a bit of luck, I think we can be competitive,” said Dunn. “Obviously, it is a big step up in grade and distance, but, if he runs the distance I think we are in it. If he finds the distance a bit too far, we bring him back next time.”

It might seem an ambitious target on paper, but let’s end where we started.

‘If you have got a ticket, you have got a chance.’

If you don’t believe that, you just have to look at Pride Of Penzance and Michelle Payne’s historic win in the 2015 Melbourne Cup at odds of 100-1.

If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere!

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