Amelia's Dream: A Very Special Filly Indeed!
So Just How Good Can She Really Be?
Amelia's Dream - Photo Courtesy
of Steve Hart - Copyright (2010)
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You can wait a lifetime to get a chance to see that really special horse, but it was all on display in the very first start of a 2yo filly simply named, 'Amelia's Dream'.
Amelia's Dream took the Australian racing scene by storm after only just 2 starts. An amazing two starts, both won in contemptible ease. And just then, as racing fate always seems to do with the really good ones, she pulled up lame after her second race run. Thankfully her injury was not as serious as first thought, but it is still bad enough to put her out for quite a while. Will she ever return to racing? Or will she be put to stud? I am hoping and so are a lot of others, that she gets a chance to race again. Because we all haven't as yet, had the real opportunity to see the full awesome ability of 'Amelia's Dream'. And so what follows is this fillies story so far, with hopefully a lot more to be added later.
So lets start right at the beginning.
Amelia's Dream was offered as a yearling in the Magic Millions sale at the Gold Coast, on behalf of Mitchell's Yarraman Park Stud. And she was purchased at that sale for just $250,0000, by Gai Waterhouse. Amelia's Dream is currently part owned by Mr R.S Willis and also Mr Richard Pegum, who himself is no stranger at all to real racing success, as he was also a part owner in the Melbourne Cup winning runner, 'Brew'.
The final price at which Amelia's Dream was purchased, was in hindsight, a bargain when you actually consider her breeding. Redoute's Choice out of the mare Shalt Not. I can clearly remember at the time, reading a comment somewhere that her dam, Shalt Not, 'had an unimpressive racing record' and this statement always stuck in my mind. Because I remember that I wouldn't have minded at any time, to have had a chance to own a horse, that ran a nice third placing in a Gold Coast Magic Millions 2YO event, won a Doomben Slipper, a Newcastle 2YO Classic and a 3YO Magic Millions Stake race, amassing over $800,000 in career prize-money. Not to bad at all for a mare who's racing record was once described as so-called, 'unimpressive'. Whoever did made this statement, just got it absolutely wrong. And Amelia's Dreams sire, Redoute's Choice, well his name speaks for itself, his service fee alone for this year is $330,000.00, enough said. Hindsight is a really remarkable thing, but the signs were definitely there from the start, hiding away just in her breeding alone. And all it took was Gai Waterhouse, who has always possessed an amazing talent for judging a horse, to just see what everyone else couldn't. Gai is certainly an amazing racing talent in her own right.
And so this fillies racing career begins.
Trial race at Rosehill 12th February 2008:
(900m on a Slow Track)
The word was quickly out about the ability of this filly right from her first and only trial run. She won the 900m trial by panels and ran a scintillating time of 54.42 on a slow track surface at Rosehill. The signs of something special were starting to stir.
1st Start at Canterbury 28th February 2008:
(2yo Fillies MDN-SW: 1100m on a Heavy Track)
Her first race start was at Canterbury and after her trial performance she started a very short price indeed, $1.60 with the bookies and with good reason. She absolutely decimated the competition by 9.3 lengths over the 1100m race distance, running a time of 1-5.54 2, an honestly impressive time once you realize the track rating that day was heavy. Sure the knockers were out in force saying, 'she wasn't up against any real competition' and they were correct in saying this. But the knockers all missed one real point and that is in how she won it, the way she simply moved so easily across the Canterbury track surface, it was utterly impressive.
The Final Results Roundup:
1-6 CANT 28 Feb 08 1100m Heavy (2YF MDN-SW ) Maiden 2YO Fillies SW $25,000 nash rawiller (3) 56 2nd oscillator 56: 3rd voler vrai 56: 1-5.54, Margin 9.3L, 1st at 800; 1st at 400; Betting $1.3/$1.60F
2nd Start 'The Sliver Slipper' at Rosehill 15th March 2008.
(1100m on a Good Track)
Her second start. The Rosehill Silver Slipper over 1100m, a feature race day and everyone was there and they got to see for themselves, just that slight glimpse of what this filly is really capable of doing and it certainly sent shivers down many a spine. As soon as those starting gates opened, you just knew that you were about to watch something very special. She was in an absolute complete class of her own and that was very plainly obvious. She flew out of the starting gates and left the rest of the field standing almost completely still. With pure race control she zipped along, maintaining a really high constant speed, till she rounded the Rosehill corner turn and only then did Nash Rawiller let her down and then time itself almost seem to stop for a moment at Rosehill. And she still, with even more speed on offer, wanting to go even faster, but Rawiller wouldn't let her do it, as he forced to ease her over the final 50m. She hit the finish line and subsequently crunched the race record, clocking 1-2.9 for the 1100m journey. Horses her age shouldn't be able to run this sort of time with a such complete and utterly contemptible ease. She is seriously something very special and you can see it clearly in the way she moves, its almost like watching fast water flow. And also on a real bookie crunching betting note: She was put up at $1.70 and backed into $1.40, taking over $500,000 from the Rosehill betting ring alone.
The Final Results Roundup:
1-9 RHIL 15 Mar 08 1100m Good (SILVER SLP G2) 2YO SW $202,700 nash rawiller (1) 54.5 2nd hips don't lie 54.5: 3rd glowlamp 54.5: 1-2.9, Margin 6.3L, 1st at 800; 1st at 400; Betting $1.7/$1.40F
Memories of Queensland Speedster 'Axe'.
In Queensland years back there was a true speed demon named 'Axe'. Now this was a horse who could really move, there honestly wouldn't be a horse in the entire world, other than Amelia's Dream, who could go 700m as quick as this animal. But after 700m, 'Axe' would just stop to almost a complete standstill. Amelia's Dream on the other hand keeps going, maintaining that pure mid-race speed perfectly and then just wanting to go fast and then even incredibly faster in finishing off a race, which in itself is absolutely stunning and also very beautifully freakish.
But as with all the good horses.
Fate always seems to deal a bad hand in horse racing, when it comes to the real good ones. After her Rosehill win she pulled up lame. But as injuries go in racing, she escaped very lightly indeed, with a non-displaced fracture of the sesamoid bone. Was she just too quick with far to much natural ability for her age? It would seem very possibly so and if this is the case, it was a very lucky escape indeed from a much more serious career or life threatening injury. Time will only tell if she will ever return to the racetrack or if she will be sent early to stud, as she already worth a small fortune as a broodmare prospect. And if we just have to wait for her offspring to race, we will just wait, so that we can may get that chance to see a glimpse of her own true ability, showing up in her own offspring. But even then, there is no guarantee she ever will have a foal that will even win a race and this in itself embodies the real undying spirit of racing. You just never know and you can just never predict, when that really special racehorse will come along. You can wait a lifetime and even then you may never get the chance to see a really good one, but even so we are still prepared to wait. Horse racing has always been and will always be a sport of true unbridled optimism, because no matter what ever happens in racing, there is always going to be that next time, that next foal, that next yearling, that next race and even more to be added to this as yet unfinished story!
This Article is Copyright (2010) All Rights Reserved. Mike Keenan at: www.horseracinginaustralia.com
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