Dream Ahead bids to cement his place as Europe’s champion sprinter when he takes on a quality field in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville on Sunday.
It was on this track last August that Dream Ahead opened his Group One account with an emphatic victory in the Prix Morny at only his second start.
Although he was late in getting his three-year-old career back on track, it was well worth the wait as he displayed a blistering turn of foot to win the July Cup at Newmarket with Hayley Turner stepping in for the unavailable William Buick.
“He’s in good order. He’s trained very well from the July Cup until now. Everything has gone very smoothly and I’m really looking forward to running him,” trainer David Simcock told At The Races.
“He’s always been a horse with lots of ability. Physically he looks fantastic. That’s where the improvement has been over the winter and up to now.
“I’d be very happy if he ran up to 126 and if he continued to run to that mark all year, he’d take a lot of beating.
“William is back on him. That was always going to be the way. It was always his ride. I don’t have a retained jockey and William has a retained trainer (John Gosden), so when he’s available he rides the horse.
“We’ll get Sunday and Haydock (Betfred Sprint Cup) next month out of the way and then we’ll make a plan for one last run at the end of the season.
“It looks a very competitive race on Sunday. I think it will be disappointing if an English horse, or an Irish horse, doesn’t win it.
“You’ve got Society Rock who’s improving all the time, Markab who looks like coming back to form and Zoffany who is probably the unknown quantity and who just could be very good.
“Wootton Bassett was a very good two-year-old and Richard (Fahey) is likely to get him back to his best very shortly. If it’s Sunday, he’ll be right in the mix.”
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