Young Victorian couple on the move

Hardworking young Victorian harness racing couple Tori Hutchins and Luke Dunne couldn’t be happier with how a move to a new training base at Charlton, in north central Victoria, is shaping up.

With a dozen racehorses, pre-trainers and educators on their books, it was a big step for the trainer and her freelance reinsman partner, who have been based at a property at Carisbrook, near Maryborough.

“Our other property was really good for us in the beginning, but as our team started to grow, we were having to put too many people on hold who were wanting to send young ones or pre-trainers,” 23-year-old Hutchins said.

“Through winter it got extremely muddy there too, so we were losing yards and having to cut numbers again. So, we weren’t exactly looking to move, but if something came up and it suited us, we were going to grab it with both hands.”

That opportunity was presented at the Charlton Training Centre, with the final decision to move made just two weeks ago and the pair working their team on the new track for the first time on Saturday.

“Once it was all organised we didn’t muck around that’s for sure! We wanted to get everything in place before we moved any horses so we could get straight into it and not be setting up while we were trying to work the team,” Hutchins said.

“It took us about three days, but once that was done, I started doing float loads of horses on Friday while Luke headed to Mildura for his weekly ritual up there! The horses were all in early Saturday morning and we started working horses that day, and were completely moved in on Sunday afternoon.”

Hutchins said they were thrilled with the training centre setup, and a community that “makes us feel like we’ve been here forever”.

“In all honesty we didn’t really choose Charlton, it kind of chose us,” she said.

“The opportunity, especially for Luke, was too good to turn down.  He was getting offered more drives and it’s closer to Mildura for him to travel – and anyone who does the Mildura trip every single week knows how much of a difference an hour can make.

“But we also thought it would really help our training. We tend to get racehorses that aren’t spring chickens, and with the straight track and the swim here it was just too good to not do it.

“There was one horse we have who probably made the final push for us and that was (10 yo winner of $230K) Cullenburn (transferred to the Hutchins barn earlier this year, and yet to start for his new stable). Being a stallion he’s made sure everyone knows he’s moved in and he reckons it’s pretty nice up here that’s for sure!”

Hutchins said the search was still on for permanent accommodation in the tight housing market in the town.

“We’re currently bunking it in a caravan at our stables, which we aren’t complaining about because it just the two of us and our dog, Molly, so it’s not too bad at all,” she said.

“Our horses are nice and close, and we have a few people on the lookout for houses in Charlton. We have an endless number of people to thank who helped us with the move. (Charlton HRC president) Joe Thompson has been extremely helpful, and Shaun McNaulty was kind enough to let us borrow his car and float to be able to move more horses at a time.

“Also, our owners, because we know it can be hard especially in the current situation in racing in Victoria, but we wouldn’t be here without them, and we want to thank them for being so loyal to us especially throughout the move. There are a countless number of people behind the scenes, and we can’t thank them enough.

“We’re just so excited about the super set up we have here.  It’s an absolute dream to be able to finally have something that we can call our own.

“We’re hoping we’ll be able to get a really neat little race team going now with the facilities and we hope we can bring back some youth in some older horses that have been around a while and mightn’t quite be racing to their best.

“We take a slightly different approach with our training; we like quality over quantity, and we love helping people with educating their babies and pre-training by being super one-on-one and really giving attention to detail.

“Luke and I just want to do our best to get our business out there and try to be as successful as we can.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink