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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Matt Dunn has pinpointed Never No More as his major chance of securing back-to-back wins in Friday’s $70,000 Riverview Hotel Murwillumbah Cup (1550m) and handing him another Big Dance eligible runner.

Trainer Mathew Dunn (Pic: Grant Guy)

Dunn, who already has Cepheus eligible for the $3m Big Dance via his South Grafton Cup win, provided the quinella in the race last year.

On that occasion, outsider Impasse beat Badoosh in a tight finish and he will have up to three runners with Never No More joined by Highway winner Eaglemont and emergency Subterranean sneaking into the field after an early scratching.

While he concedes the 2023 edition appears stronger than a year ago, the Murwillumbah trainer said the home track is a big plus and in Never No More’s case an inside barrier will be in his favour too.

“There’s a distinct home track advantage here and that’s one thing in all our horses’ favour that are racing here,’’ Dunn said.

“Horses that work on this track every fast morning tend to handle it.

“Never No More is the horse we’ve targeted at this race the whole way through, he’s in a good spot and he’ll run really well.”

The eight-year-old hasn’t won a race since joining Dunn late in 2021 but has recorded six placings from 10 starts including one at Listed level and he showed the trainer he was on target in his last start sixth at Eagle Farm almost a month ago.

He’s had a tickover trial since then and Dunn said barrier two is a real win for the horse.

“Barriers are pretty important from that start because they go about 200m before there’s a little half dog leg corner and the fact he’s drawn in there just lets him put himself a little closer without changing his pattern,’’ he said.

“He can lob fifth or sixth somewhere there without using any juice.

“He’s proven it before that he’s up to this field and I think he’s close to where I need to have him.”

Eaglemont let Dunn down with his midfield finish at Eagle Farm two weeks ago, though he was only beaten two lengths, and hopes it was just a case of the horse being a little jaded from the Sydney trip prior.

The gelding, who like Never No More races in the OTI colours, was an impressive winner of a 1500m Highway at Rosehill a few weeks earlier.

“He was a fraction disappointing, he just raced in patches a little bit,’’ he said.

“Maybe the trip back from Sydney made him race a bit dour, he didn’t have the sharpness he showed in his previous couple.

"He gave us no reason to stop him and I’m expecting him to bounce back.”

With Subterranean gaining a start Dunn is likely to roll the dice and give him the chance to recapture something like the form that saw him win at Group 3 level as a younger horse but he’s failed to run on in two starts in Queensland this time in.

“He’s a horse that’s never run at home before in his life and this is an opportunity,’’ Dunn said.

“He was a bit plain the other day. I thought he’d turned things around, he worked really well on the Tuesday.”

Never No More's last start at Eagle Farm on July 29

Away from the feature, Dunn earmarked three-year-old Texas Fireball as a horse to follow when he resumes in the CHG Integrated Wealth Handicap (1200m).

The grey has raced just once, back in April, and will tackle the race off one barrier trial just over a week ago.

“He’s better than what he showed (on debut), he pulled up shinny after that start,’’ Dunn said.

“I was tossing around the idea of going around in another trial, he needs every bit of 1200m because he has this great big action. He’ll probably be a 2000m horse eventually, he’s a decent horse and I like him a lot.”

All the fields, form and replays for Friday's Murwillumbah Cup meeting