By Richard Walsh
Racehorse trainer Alex Dunn who opened her 2020-21 account with a 2270-1 double at Wincanton in early October has come a very long way since setting up her fledgling yard at West Buckland from scratch seven years ago.
Listen to our EXCLUSIVE interview with Alex Dunn at the bottom of this page!
Her first winner at Wincanton came in the opener when The Eagle’s Nest under Micheal Nolan won by a length at 33-1, which was a great way for Dunn to start her season.
However things were just about to get a whole lot better when Thahab Ifraj under Charlie Deutsch won the fourth event by a quarter of a length at 66-1, giving the young trainer a massive double.
During the lockdown Alex Dunn has devoted her time and energy to making further improvements at her yard so that she now has top class facilities, and they are really impressive. Alex has talked EXCLUSIVELY to Tone News:
We took the surface off our gallops which were covered with woodchip which is biodegradable and has a shelf life, and installed a large number of drains to ensure that we wont have any standing water.
We have put down a carpet gallop, which is the new fashion, the thought being that it lasts longer than the wood. It was a lot of work but we now have a surface that we know and it will keep us going for the next five to eight years or possibly longer.
We have also created a circular gallop that will work a horse one way and then the other and then we can blast them up the straight afterwards so they canter ticking off the furlongs like you do in a race. Then at the end we get them to quicken up the carpet gallop to simulate a race because you want to finish fast.
Another addition to the yard which has been imported from Australia has already proved its worth:
We have installed a new galloping treadmill which has been very successful and Eagles Nest that won at 33-1 has benefitted hugely from that.”
From her limited beginnings Alex has now got 44 horses at the yard and from she has transformed the place.
I have got a lot of young exciting horses that are unexposed and up and coming, each of which has been handpicked by me and they are ready to run this winter.
Dunn added:
We have got the facilities to beat the best and a lot of up and coming horses so everyone can come on the journey with us.
To find out how you can become involved with the exciting developments at Dunn’s yard where ownership can start from as little as £58 log onto the Alex Dunn Racing website.
Listen to our EXCLUSIVE interview with Alex Dunn below:
