A switch back to turf saw Dream On bounce back to winning form on Sunday to hand trainer Patrick Shaw a double at his first appearance at Kranji since returning from his South African holidays.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
After getting on the scoreboard earlier with Running Tall in Race 3, Shaw was able to toast to another success when the Fred Crabbia-owned Dream On (Barend Vorster) came with a nice turn of foot down the middle of the track to land the money two races later in the $55,000 Benchmark 67 race over 1600m.
Dream On, a three-year-old gelding by Fastnet Rock, was a last-start flop when ninth in a Polytrack race over 1800m, prompting his trainer to pick a turf race instead.
But at the top of the straight, it was stablemate Super Victory (John Powell) who was being hailed the winner when he edged past race-leader Flaneur (Greg Cheyne) at the 300m pole. Dream On ($30) at that moment was about six lengths astern and seemingly facing an uphill task.
But the complexion of the race turned all of a sudden when Super Victory leaned into the path of Flaneur and did not appear to be making much headway. Dream On was then unwinding on the outside and 100m out, it was clear he would get the measure of Super Victory for a stable queue-up.
Flaneur ran third another three parts of a length away. His trainer John O'Hara objected against Super Victory for alleged interference in the home straight, but without success. The winning time was 1min 36.6secs.
“It was a nice win. Obviously the return to turf suited him very much, but he’s still very immature,” said Shaw.
“I’ve said from Day 1 that this horse had plenty of ability. Whether he goes on to become a Singapore Guineas horse remains to be seen.”
The Group 1 Singapore Guineas is the third Leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge and will be run on May 17.Vorster was delighted with the way Dream On had shown he could measure up to better company.
“It was nice to see him come out at that type of level and win, especially as there were some concerns he was not 100% fit,” said Vorster.
“I had plenty of horse under me today. When I showed him the whip, he wanted to leap forward but I held him for that last run in the home straight.
“He’s a classy horse and I think the sting out of the ground also helped him today.”
Dream On has now recorded two wins from six starts for prizemoney close to the $80,000 mark.
