Dream Runner went for the rail run to take out The Little Dance (1600m) at Royal Randwick for Canberra trainer Keith Dryden on Tuesday.
Narrowly beaten into second in the Wagga Cup (2000m) back in May, Dream Runner earned his eligibility for The Big Dance.
He may not have gotten his start in the feature event, but winning the $500,000 Little Dance for horses who didn’t make the cut for the feature, is certainly a good consolation prize.
After a first-up win at Canberra over 1200m on September 24, Dream Runner failed to feature in his last start at Randwick over the 1600m on October 15.
But the Dryden stable was out for redemption for that last run and gun apprentice Tyler Schiller was determined to go one better than his narrow second in the previous race the Big Dance on Cisco Bay.
Jumping from barrier three at $11 odds with online bookmakers, Schiller settled his mount slightly better than midfield on the rail.
Finding himself still surrounded by horses at the top of the straight, he had no other option and Dream Runner was pushed through for the rail run, taking the lead with 100m to go.
With a wall of horses coming behind him, the six-year-old gelding was able to hold on by a neck margin to the Chris Waller-trained Solar Apex ($4.60F) who was flying home, with Steely ($5.50) not far away in third for Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou.
Although Schiller would have liked to win The Big Dance, he was happy to get the job done for Dryden in the “little one”.
“I couldn’t have the big one, so I had to settle for the little one. But it’s great to do it for Keith. He’s a super trainer and the horse is a really genuine boy, so it was good to get the win today,” he said.
“He was very brave to still fight on after that, he copped a bit of a bump. He had a really tough run the other day. I was confident, when I saw the draw, he was going to get a great run then it was just trying to find a run at the top of the straight and we got one.”
Dryden was thrilled to get the win for his owners but denied feeling revenge for the Waller-trained Aleas beating Dream Runner in The Big Dance qualifying Wagga Cup.
“I don’t know about revenge. If you can get anywhere near Chris, you’re going good,” he said.
“I’m pretty happy with the result. (Owner) Tony Hartnell has stuck by me, he’s in hospital, he’s not very well so he will get a great thrill out of it.”
“He (Schiller) declared it to me when we were waiting to mount up. I said, he’s trained on well since, I think we should be fifth or sixth the fence. He said, if we are, he will win. That’s where I want to be, and he’ll be terribly hard to beat.”
Dryden admitted he wasn’t quite as confident as his jockey.
“Not as much as that. I was confident he’d run well for us. You can’t declare them in these races, he did but I can’t,” he said.
“It’s another thing I’ve done in my life. I suppose training is coming to an end for me, I’ve probably only got 20 years left. But great to win it, great for Mr Hartnell.”
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