There won’t be a better horse racing at Caulfield on Saturday than Heart Of Dreams.
It’s just a matter of whether the dual Group One winner is recovered from a knee problem suffered last spring and if he’s as happy about being a racehorse as he was during his stellar autumn of three years ago.
Heart Of Dreams is entered for Saturday’s Group Three Bletchingly Stakes (1200m), a race likely to test both his soundness and his desire.
Trainer Mick Price had to scrap the gelding’s spring campaign last September when he suffered a knee injury.
Price said the problem wasn’t severe, but bad enough for him to skip the last autumn.
“There is some wear and tear that made it not worth the risk,” Price said.
“He’s had a good break now and if everything’s OK with him, we’ll press on.”
Heart Of Dreams won the Group One Australian Guineas and Group Two Phar Lap Stakes as an autumn three-year-old and carried the form into the next spring, winning the Group One Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield.
He went on to finish seventh behind So You Think in the 2009 Cox Plate.
Heart Of Dreams is one of three Group One winners, along with Eagle Falls and Green Birdie, entered in a race that is likely to end up with a similar look to last Saturday week’s Sir John Monash Stakes (1100m).
Platelet, the winner of that race is nominated for the Bletchingly and the Lightning Stakes in Adelaide on Saturday.
Former Hong Kong-trained Green Birdie, finished seventh in the Monash at his first start for Tony Vasil, but could have been a placegetter with luck.
The winner of $2.7 million thanks to three wins in Hong Kong and another in Singapore, he will be fitter and better suited over the extra ground.
Vasil will make a final decision on a start after assessing the track condition later in the week.
The Caulfield track, a dead five on Monday, is also vital to the prospects of Eagle Falls’ appearance in the Bletchingly.
Trainer David Hayes withdrew him from the Monash due to a rain-affected track and said he was prepared to wait until he found a firmer surface for the 2011 Oakleigh Plate winner.
