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By Ray Hickson

A truck rolls out of Murwillumbah around six in the afternoon on a Wednesday and pulls into Sydney some 10 hours or so later.

Trainer Matthew Dunn (Pic: Grant Guy).

It’s the pattern trainer Matt Dunn has seemingly perfected over a period of 10 years that has resulted in him being on the cusp of a remarkable 50th TAB Highway success at Randwick on Saturday.

He will get to 50 but it’d be somewhat fitting if it happened this weekend. That’s because it’s almost 10 years to the day since Quatronic, ridden by Hugh Bowman, handed Dunn his first Highway success back on September 10 in 2016.

And he’s sent Mrs Goldberg and Wayburn on the road for the Buy Your Kosciuszko Tickets At TAB Highway (1200m) looking to raise the bat for the half century and secure a hat-trick for the stable.

“I measure the horses on at least Brisbane midweek level, that’s how we figure out the right ones to take,’’ Dunn said.

“It was more about working out the travel. They travel down Wednesday night and arrive early Thursday morning and just roll around for a few days.

“It was about getting that right. A few times we tried travelling a bit later and it didn’t work well. We can’t go any earlier. It just works well.”

Let’s look at Dunn’s TAB Highway record in more detail.

There has been 492 Highway races so far. He’s had 192 runners for 49 winners, 21 seconds, and 20 thirds at a strike rate of 25.5 per cent. His horses have collected just over $2.9 million for their owners.

Bear in mind, too, that he was ineligible for a couple of years when he was also running a Sydney stable.

Nash Rawiller partners Mrs Goldberg, he’s won 12 Highway races for Dunn, while apprentice Jett Newman has the job of steering Wayburn from a wide gate.

Dunn hasn’t ruled out either horse as a potential Kosciuszko runner though he says the two horses from his stable being aimed at the $2 million race are Band Of Brothers and Considered.

If Mrs Goldberg, $4.20 with TAB on Thursday, can handle the quick turnaround having won first-up two weeks ago the trainer says there’s no reason she couldn’t repeat her runaway win.

“She was impressive, she’s going down on a two week travel gap which sometimes doesn’t work,’’ Dunn said.

“She travelled home very good and was back to her pre-race weight within a couple of days. It’s really important and it shows she coped well with the travel.

“She was first-up when she won and that’s hard enough to do in itself.

“She’s taking a similar path to Derry Grove who was doing the same thing at the same time, he got in the Kosciuszko on the back of some impressive Highway wins."

Derry Grove started a $7 chance in the 2023 Kosciuszko and ran ninth behind Front Page.

“They have to be impressive. He ran well in the Kosciuszko, he didn’t get much luck, and she’s probably following that path a little bit,'' he said.

“If she can do the same thing she might be one that people will be attracted to.”

It’s been a month since Wayburn recorded a Highway win at Rosehill and Dunn said the four-year-old will likely need to be ridden in a similar fashion to go back-to-back.

The gelding has had three Highway starts, with his other two being close seconds at Randwick, and Dunn was impressed with how effective he was.

“Last start when he won was probably the first time we’ve realty ridden him conservatively,’’ he said.

Mrs Goldberg wins at Randwick on August 22

“Other starts we’ve put him in the race and he’s raced well but he was electric when ridden quiet.

“From that gate she’s obligated to probably ride him the same way. He showed a really good turn of foot which he hadn’t done in other races.

"He’s had a nice break between runs and he’s flying at home.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Randwick meeting