Dream Eater

Dream Eater ran a cracker to finish third behind Goldikova and Paco Boy in the Queen Anne at Ascot last Tuesday. Settled in rear by Jimmy Fortune, Andrew Balding’s horse was disputing second last place with Paco Boy passing the two-furlong pole, but he picked up impressively when Fortune asked him to, coming from a length and a half behind Zacinto and the progressive Alain de Royer-Dupre-trained colt Dalghar, both of whom enjoyed the run of the race just behind the leaders, to catch and pass them on the outside and beat them by three parts of a length and two lengths respectively. He had no answer to the front pair, but not many horses do, they are two of the best milers of this generation and he had some top class performers in behind.

This was another really good effort from Dream Eater on his second start of the season. He was only fifth in a weaker renewal of this race last season and that suggests that he is a better horse this season than last. He had a wind operation during the winter, which may be a contributory factor. Prior to this, on his reappearance he had run really well behind Main Aim at Haydock, just getting slightly squeezed between runners two furlongs out, and his jockey was not too hard on him late on, which was understandable after a 244 day absence. The son of Night Shift came close to taking a Group 2 in Turkey last year when just denied by the Michael Jarvis-trained Pressing, a top class performer himself. The Summer Mile at Ascot next month is a possible target, and he would have a big chance in that if lining up.

12th June 2010