Horseman Steve Dunne passes

Steve Dunne left Dublin, Ireland as a young boy and emigrated to Australia with his mother and father and family like many before and after him . . He said that Dublin never left his heart and he always vowed to return . On what was to be his journey back to his home country as a young man on a stopover in New Zealand, he met Theresa ,the love of his life . And that was that!. He remained in NewZealand with Theresa for almost 60 years .

In New Zealand he was involved in harness racing and it was here that Donal Murphy of IB Stables in Baltimore West Cork met him whilst on a placement as a young UCD student on a farm adjoining Steve’s property.

Donal spent almost all of his 9 months there with Steve and his family jogging out his horses and racing with him . This overwhelming generosity he showed Donal he showed again to the Quill family In 2009.

Finbar Quill had the pleasure of meeting Steve on a trip to New Zealand. Finbarr and Rosemarie and their 4 sons will never forget the incredible kindness he showed to them. He sacrificed precious time with his own family during the Christmas holidays to ensure that they could visit all the stud farms and training centers into which we could not have gained entry without his help .. he even insisted they stay in his beautiful family home on the beach front as his family was in their holiday home . .. Steve was a gentleman, the likes of whom you seldom meet in a lifetime.

On a number of occasions in recent years he sought Seamus out having heard his name at various race meetings over there . Seamus was lucky enough to be at a track by chance where Steve was celebrating a birthday last year and he hugged Seamus when he saw him and invited him in .Always beyond kind.

He attended a race m eeting in Portmarnock Racetrack only a few years ago. He had vivid memories of some old names involved in racing in Portmarnock from his fathers generation now long since dead and gone.

The highlight of that day at the races for Steve was the wonderful exchange of stories he had with Mary Wallace. Dublin city born and bred like himself,his joy was palpable speaking with her of bye gone days. She relayed fascinating old stories of her mother, who owned and ran various shops on Moore street and in other familiar historical locations in the Dublin that Steve had never forgotten from his childhood. And how he would laugh at the story of the close shave her own family had with picking up a family ticket themselves for the boat to Australia.

Without harness racing we would never have had the pleasure of meeting Steve Dunne and for this we are truly grateful . A sincere humble kind gentleman . May he Rest In Peace!