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12 Oct 2020

Dream Of Dreams hoping three’s a charm in the QIPCO Champions Sprint Stakes

Dream Of Dreams is on course to try and make it third time lucky in the £391,260 QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes.

The Sir Michael Stoute-trained six-year-old, who heads the ante-post betting and is one of 19 entries, has failed to make an impact in the last two runnings of the six-furlong feature but narrow defeats in the past two renewals of the Diamond Jubilee Stakes (beaten a head into second on each occasion) has proven his effectiveness at the track and he arrives on the back of a decisive success in the Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock, when he won at the main expense of Glen Shiel and had Art Power (fourth), The Tin Man (sixth), Lope Y Fernandez (seventh) and Brando (ninth) further adrift.

Before his success at Haydock, Dream Of Dreams had been a brilliant seven-length winner of the Group 2 Unibet Hungerford Stakes at Newbury. He is unbeaten in two starts when partnered by Oisin Murphy and, if successful, will belatedly provide Stoute, who is 75 next week, with a first success on QIPCO British Champions Day.

Oxted provided Roger Teal and Cieren Fallon with a day to savour when landing the Darley July Cup at Newmarket. The pair had never previously enjoyed a Group 1 success but Oxted, previously successful in the Betway Abernant Stakes, won with authority and, having had only nine races, remains open to improvement.

Teal said: “He looks amazing and is still keeping his coat, which is great. He’s training really well and seems to have that mojo back and we’re really happy with him. He’s had a massive impact on the yard, putting us right in the shop window. Winning a Group 1 was amazing and hopefully we’ve got a few more to come.

“We’ve always been happy to compete with the best, that’s what we’re here for. We’ve always danced the dance with the big boys, and we’ve come out on top a few times and that’s where we want to be.”

Two three-year-old fillies who won Listed races over the weekend were supplemented at a cost of £25,000 each this morning. Onassis, trained by Charlie Fellowes, was added after her success over 7f at Goodwood yesterday, while Jouska, trained by Henry Candy, is now also in the mix after her victory in the Dubai British EBF Boadicea Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday.

One Master made history at Longchamp eight days ago when winning the Group 1 Prix de la Foret for a third successive year and is set to try and go one better than in last year’s race, when she chased home Donjuant Triumphant. Make A Challenge, Brando and Speak In Colours, also not beaten far 12 months ago, are also back for another attempt.

The team behind Donjuan Triumphant, Andrew Balding and Silvestre de Sousa, are set to rely on Happy Power, who landed the Group 2 Godolphin Stud & Stable Staff Awards Challenge Stakes in good style at Newmarket on Friday.

The Tin Man, the 2016 winner, could make his sixth successive appearance in the race, while Starman has impressed in winning each of his three races and is exciting contender for Ed Walker.

In addition, Cape Byron is an intriguing contender for Roger Varian. He has been absent since last year’s renewal but the former Wokingham winner has a good record at Ascot (four wins at the course) and has gone well fresh in the past.