Jenna Dunn-a vital part of Diamond Racing

A large volume of horses, high staff numbers and a work schedule that’s based around the Woodend Beach tide. Life at Diamond Racing’s southern base just north of Christchurch is very busy.

On the ground organising training groups, horse care and float schedules on race night, could be a logistical headache but not for Jenna Dunn.

“That’s my sort of work. I like being behind the scenes taking care of the horses. RJ (Robert Dunn) does all the book work and Johnny (husband) does all the noms and driving so it’s a massive team effort,” says Jenna who trains in partnership with her father-in-law Robert.

When the horses get back from racing Jenna likes to be there to run her eye over each of them and give them the necessary post-race care.

“I quite enjoy doing that. It came from Dad (Craig Edmonds) and I used to work for my uncle Murray in the school holidays, they were pretty good teachers. Coming here with RJ and Johnny I learned more and different things.”

On big days like Cup Day the stable can have a large number of horses coming and going.

“We’re lucky enough to have good staff behind us that’ll be there day in and day out to get that work done.”

The Dunn trio have surrounded themselves with experienced horseman like Jenna’s father Craig, Henderson Hunter, Craig O’Callaghan, Gary Lang and Phil Vermeulen.

“They’re great to have around the place. We’re really lucky. The older guys are always there a bit earlier and get horses in and may take the canters down to the beach before we even get there, depending on the tide.”

Generally Jenna who lives close to the stables, is at work at 6:30am.

“It depends on tides. So sometimes it could be a bit earlier. Generally we finish at 4.30pm but it can be a bit later if the vets come.”

“She gets all the horses geared up before they go out, whether it’s on the beach or the track and the care they need after, like recovery, heart rates and bandaging. Jen keeps her eye on every horse every morning as they come in or go out,” John added.

Jenna was born into the game – her father trained at Hutt Park in Wellington in the early days.

However horses were not her first career. As a young person she worked for Air New Zealand at Christchurch Airport with her father, as part of the ground staff crew which included check in.

“I just like the people watching and when I was younger I always wanted to be a flight attendant. I was there for about ten years.”

Then the horses came calling and in 2021 she was taken into the Diamond Racing training partnership with Robert.

“It made sense with Robert living up in Auckland. We had such a big set-up with the majority of the stable down here. I was getting all the accolades for driving them and Jenna was doing all the work behind the scenes. It was a no brainer,” John said.

Jenna’s first winner in the new set-up was at Addington in August 2021with Somekindawonderful.

Since then the partnership has trained a total of 525 winners – 15 at Group One level. And in that short period they’ve won the National Trainer’s Premiership twice.

Her first Group One winner was Sundees Son when he won the 2021 Dominion Handicap in a New Zealand record time of 3-56.8.

To date 173 of the stable’s winners have been trotters.

“I like the trotters. That comes from Dad because he probably had more trotters than pacers,” Jenna said.

Outside of training, Jenna has owned 55 winners with Alta Orlando (7) and Ella Powell (6) being her most success horses.

Her first winner as an owner was Ella Powell at Forbury Park in March 2006, trained by her father and driven by her sister Aimee.

Her first feature win as an owner was Ella Powell in the 2006 G2 NZ Trotters Trust Trotting Oaks.

But she states one of her most thrilling ownership experiences was with Bounce N Beyond, when he won on Cup Day last year.

“I have to give a big shout out to Nigel and Brenda (Armstrong) who gave me a five percent share in him. So that was pretty cool.”

She has only been in the ownership of Bounce N Beyond since November and already he’s become her favourite horse.

“I went up to Auckland and was driving him. He wasn’t the easiest horse and I probably didn’t have a lot of confidence, but he gave me that confidence to drive.”

And John says Bounce N Beyond seems to go better when Jenna is around.

“To be fair the horse goes terrible when the boys drive him. Jen went up for his main race in Auckland and then we left him there and the wheels fell off. He came back down and Jen took over again and he won two or three in a row,” John said.

And her favourite moment in the sport? Well that’s split three ways.

“Sundees Son was a big thrill and winning the Velocity with Got The Chocolates beating Marketplace. But if I’m allowed to be biased, Bounces win on Cup Day was right up there for me. I got a bit emotional doing Nig’s interview. The horse is pretty special to me.”

The stable’s buzz horse, Got The Chocolates, won five of his thirteen starts last season earning $439,275. Jenna is looking forward to his return to the racetrack.

“He’s matured a lot and you can see that he’s a different horse so we’re looking forward to him racing again. He’s calmed down. He used to be quite nervy, his whole demeanour has changed. Now he’s calm and I think that’ll help the horse.”

Jenna says Todd Quate has played a big part in making Got The Chocolates.

“He’s a starter assistant at Addington and works for us as well. He has a lot to do with that horse.”

Jenna is also breeding from a number of mares with Robert and Bruce and Marg, Sam and Mitzi Taylor. Their broodmare band include Cmeerock (Rocknroll Hanover), Shimmy Shoes (Bettor’s Delight) and Surfin Swift (Christian Cullen).

Jenna and John have two children, Jacob (22) and Lacey (18).

While Jacob has followed in his parents’ footsteps and works for his grandfather in Auckland, Lacey left home base last month and headed south to Otago University to study forensic psychology.

“She worked at Stonewall Stud over the holidays and did Kidz Kartz. She’s the brains in the family. She’s going to Uni (laughter),” Jenna said.

Jenna says the stable currently has 60 horses in the barn, 45 of them Dunn trained horses and the balance made up of horses trained by people who work for the stable.

All have the advantage of enjoying the changeable beach training environment which includes straight line work.

“It’s like us when we go on holiday. It’s a change of scenery. Something that comes from going around a round track, then going on the beach, then a walk in the water afterwards. They love it.”

Over the years Diamond Racing has been sent a number of horses with various injuries who benefit from the Woodend Beach environment.

“Sundees Son was a massive one for us. He had issues right from when he was a young horse. If we didn’t have the beach and the straight-line training he wouldn’t have won half of what he won,” John said.

The Dunns don’t have a big float these days so they run a shuttle service with three horse floats, each trip generally taking 40 minutes to get to Addington.

“Jen will be getting the horses ready and is always there when the trips start to trickle home. The ones that race later in the night don’t have to be there all night, so Jen gets them sorted,” John said.

Jenna is looking forward to the return of some of the stable’s young stock like Petite Armour, Valorus and Ya Rite Darl as the new season progresses.

“She’s (Ya Rite Darl) done a great job. RJ bought her at the weanling sales for $8,000. She won a Group One and beat the older fillies. She’s up north at the moment with Jacob. She had the gait and the speed but never had the mindset to do it. She’s definitely matured a lot.”

Last year Jenna and John and a handful of others travelled to America to take in some top class racing and they visited some of the powerhouse stables in the States.

“It was amazing. We went to great stables like Nifty Normans, the Melanders, Nancy Taklers and Ake Svanstedt.”

“His (Svanstedt) property was amazing. He’s got a big sand track that goes uphill, downhill,” Jenna said.

“He’s also got a warmup track and a straight track in deeper sand that only went for 800 metres. It’s a different style of training. They all get trained in the cart and that’s what we try to do at our place,” John added.

Jenna Dunn doesn’t have a lot of free time outside of the horses, but she’s happy with that. She likes to take the dog for a walk and just loves living close to the beach.

“I don’t think there is any other place I’d rather be.”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink