CLICK HERE TO GO BACK

ALLAN DUNN

The death occurred last Friday of Allan Dunn, who passed away peacefully at the age of 86 after battling ill health for the last couple of years.

Originally from the West Coast, Allan moved to Christchurch many years ago and bought the Granada Coffee Lounge. Although not knowing much about coffee or even a fan of it himself, Allan nevertheless took his shop to new heights and was even one of the first people in the country to import an Italian espresso machine.

In the early 60s Allan then moved to Wellington where he and his good mate Max Williams bought the Taita Hotel in Lower Hutt, close to Trentham, befriending many high-profile thoroughbred breeders, owners, trainers and jockeys as a result. Allan and Max developed an accommodation complex onsite and their mottos were simple - make their guests' stays comfortable, enjoyable and memorable - and business for them boomed.

"Any time there were races or the yearling sales on, if there wasn't enough room at the Taita then some of them overflowed to the house," remembers Allan's son Robert. "I think at one stage they were selling up to 8000 half-gees of beer a week, which was some sort of record."

It's not surprising then that Allan's first foray into horse ownership was in the 'other' code, with he and Max racing the likes of Shantung and Suttle on lease from Pirongia Stud - which won "about twenty-five races" between then - and they also bred the good winner Pelican Brief.

Allan sold the hotel in 1975 and retired at an early age, shifting his family to Chrischurch and buying the 30 acre property at West Melton where his sons Robert and Geoff and grandsons John and Dexter still operate out of to this day.

Through Max's friendship with the late Alf Bourne the two mates switched codes and raced the Ashburton Cup winner Reffluent, and the numerous other good harness horses that Allan was involved with over the years included the likes of Late Lustre, Bound To Be, Affluent and Rapid Surge. "No champions, just a lot of nice horses who won a good handful of races each," Robert said, adding that his father had the distinction of racing horses successfully in New Zealand, Australia and North America. "He also imported the stallion Tiger Wave, and raced a few handy horses by him that won four of five as well."

Allan never trained or drove in an official capacity himself, but every day up until he took sick a couple of years ago he would be at the stables to help out first thing in the morning, and he'd be one of the last to leave. "He'd work like a tiger, seven days a week; a workaholic," Robert says affectionately. "For much of his life he had a very bad back and knees, but he never moaned about it. He just loved horses - and he'd put you to shame with some of the care he'd show towards them sometimes."

Allan of course was very proud of his sons' and grandsons' success in the sport, and he'd follow their progress closely as well as the developments of other stable employees such as Shaun Thompson and Tim Williams, the latter being Max's grandson.

"He loved his sport and his racing, and he'd be the worst one-eyed Cantabrian of all time," Robert says. "Especially rugby...whether it be the Canterbury team, the All Blacks, Andrew Mehrtens, Richie McCaw or Dan Carter - none of them could ever do a thing wrong in this opinion. Get him started and you'd have to leave the room."

Allan is survived by his wife Kath, their children Robert, Geoff, Kevin, Brian and Margaret, plus seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Credit: HRWeekly 24Nov10