SHA OF GOMER, JEFF AND RIKKI DUNN STAR IN THE 2025 EDITION OF THE RAMORNIE HANDICAP

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Perfectly presented by trainer Jeff Dunn, perfectly ridden by jockey Rikki Dunn and a perfect response from Sha Of Gomer himself … that, in essence, was the collective force, a trifecta of skills and abilities if you like, that combined to topple all of Sha Of Gomer’s fourteen rivals in the $200 000 Ramornie Handicap at Grafton, leaving them chasing shadows as the son of Shalaa put a special win in the record books.

Not surprisingly, you couldn’t get the smile off Jeff Dunn’s face post-race.

“It is absolutely huge. My biggest win as a trainer,” said Jeff Dunn. “What a great thrill it is to win such a special race with a long history. I can’t believe this has happened with Rikki on the horse. It was really special.

“I’m really overwhelmed with the support we have had with this horse …with the owners, and to win this race is very, very special for us.

“I’ve had a few early crow moments in my time and I don’t want to do that in a big race, that’s for sure, so I didn’t think we’d won it until they crossed the line.

“The way he was travelling down to the corner, I was getting out of my seat. Halfway down the straight. I think I stood a bit taller and at the winning post I was jumping up and down.”

And while that was happening, Rikki Dunn gave her view of the race from the saddle.

“It was perfect really. I couldn’t have asked for a better run,” Rikki Dunn told HRO’s Darren Winningham.

“I honestly thought we would be further back, but he jumped so well, and I wasn’t going to give away the box seat.

"He was there and travelling beautifully. Obviously, he was coming back from 1300m to 1200m, but we had freshened him up into it and he jumped so well, put himself into it and travelled well the whole race.

“I just popped off The Big Goodbye at the top of the straight. He wasn’t taking me into the race as much in as I would have liked him to do. I really would have liked to stay hidden a little bit longer. I didn’t want him to be exposed too soon so, after I pulled him out, I just had to sit there for a little while … for as long as I could …and then I said ‘go’ … and that was it.”
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The last month has shown in no uncertain terms what the Jeff and Rikki Dunn husband / wife combination can do when they have an above average horse to work with, not only in the way they turn the horse out, but in their judgement of where to take him in terms of accurately lining up ability with opportunity to maximise the horse’s potential.

It didn’t matter to Dunn if he had to head north or south from his Beaudesert base with Sha Of Gomer to achieve that and he didn’t hesitate to do both for the two follow-up runs after the gelding’s bold second place in a hard-fought Eye Liner finish.

In the Eye Liner, on June 21, the five-year-old did everything but win at Ipswich, coming from midfield, tracking wide into clear air on the turn, accelerating to hit the front with 150m left to run … only to be run down in the final few strides. To put that result in perspective, the subsequent Caloundra Cup winner Fortunate Kiss finished behind Sha Of Gomer that day.

In spite of the defeat, the Eye Liner was a very important run for Sha Of Gomer for two particular reasons.
Firstly, it justified the opinion the stable had of the horse and, secondly, it brought some new information into play which Team Dunn absorbed and incorporated into a refined gameplan for the horse moving forward.

“We were supremely confident going to the Eye Liner where he was a $51 chance,” explained Jeff Dunn, discussing that race.

“I don’t have a big name. I don’t have hundreds of horses in my stable … but, for a fifteen-horse stable and a lot of young horses, I was so confident going to the Eye Liner … and I thought we had it, to be honest … I really thought we did.

“Having that run taught us a lot about the horse … and how long his turn of foot lasts,” continued Dunn. “Had we not had that run we might not have been able to win the last two.” (The Rockhampton Newmarket and the Ramornie).

Rikki Dunn described the narrow Eye Liner defeat as ‘a bit of a gut-punch’ but that only made the double success of the next two wins all the sweeter.

Heading north to the Rockhampton Newmarket … then south for the Ramornie with only a twelve-day turnaround and getting wins on both fronts underlines just how well Jeff and Rikki Dunn know their horse.

These results are a huge feather in their cap.

Like all trainers, the best … some would say only way to attract clientele is by winning … and then winning again. Winning feature races is a step up on that … and winning successive feature races 950km apart takes it to another level.

It’s a tough game so whether being in the spotlight right now translates into more horses being brought into the Dunn stable by new owners remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that this is a stable moving in the right direction.

They have already proved one thing ... hard work certainly does pay off.

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