Trainer Matt Dunn capped off a career-best season when his fast sprinter Band Of Brothers showed sustained speed to lead all the way in the Listed $200,000 Ramornie Handicap (1200m) at Grafton on Wednesday.
Band Of Brothers bounced back from a disappointing last-start showing and successfully defied a string of challengers in the straight to record a popular win.
For Dunn, the leading trainer in the NSW Northern Rivers region, this was his first win in a major race at the Grafton Cup Carnival.
Band Of Brothers’ victory in the Ramornie Handicap brought his tally for the 2025/26 season to 128 winners, placing him sixth on the Australian trainers’ premiership.
However, the trainer revealed that the Ramornie was not initially on his agenda for Band Of Brothers.
“To be honest, it (Ramornie) was a bit of an afterthought,” Dunn told Sky Thoroughbred Central.
“He went to the Glasshouse Handicap second-up and he was a bit disappointing but he was probably on the wrong part of the track.
“Today, he found himself in front, fought on really hard and they had the opportunity to get to him in the straight but he really dug deep.”
Band Of Brothers, a confident $5 favourite, was expertly rated in front by jockey Dylan Turner to win the Ramornie by one-and-a-quarter lengths from Pereille ($9), with Givemethebeatboys ($6) a nose behind in third.
Fire Star, drawn wide, was never in a winning position but ran on well to finish fourth, beaten just over a length and a half.
The Ramornie Handicap win was the second stakes-level victory for the rising five-year-old Band Of Brothers, following his triumph in the Group 3 Vain Stakes during his three-year-old campaign.
Band Of Brothers has now improved his race record to five wins and eight placings from 20 starts, with his earnings nearing $630,000.
The talented sprinter is now likely to be aimed at the $2 million The Kosciuszko (1200m) on Everest Day at Royal Randwick on October 17.
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