After a mixed spring preparation, Illicit Dreams announced herself as a key figure in the upcoming southern Guineas series with a dominant Rating 75 victory at Omoto on Wednesday.
The talented daughter of Vancouver was a Listed Champagne Stakes (1200m) winner as an autumn two-year-old and came off second-best to Te Akau filly Viva Vienna in the Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) in September.
With the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) in the offing, trainers Ken Rae and Krystal Williams looked to step the typically on-speed filly beyond the sprint distances, but Illicit Dreams found the mile too testing at Riccarton after leading early and finished near the tail.
Returning from a freshen-up, punters regained faith in the filly as she contested a more preferable 1100m event, starting a shortening +180 favourite ahead of her older rivals.
A sizzling pace was taken up early by O’Jessica, with Illicit Dreams and apprentice Danika Wilson maintaining the pressure by settling off the fence in second down the back stretch. Poised to pounce turning for home, the filly took the lead at the 150m and drew clear by an eventual 1.25 lengths under a hands-and-heels ride from Wilson.
Williams was delighted to have Illicit Dreams back in winning form and had hoped to see such a performance while aiming her for the Listed Gore Guineas (1335m) on January 20.
“It was a fresh-up run for her, we brought her up here for a trip away to prepare for what we have in store next,” she said.
“We needed to see her go well today to warrant carrying on to the Southern Guineas races, so she’ll go to the Gore Guineas now.”
Williams was philosophical about the three-year-old’s spring performances and indicated Illicit Dreams’ range would be limited to 1400m for now.
“At the moment, we’ll just stick with under the 1400m mark because she’s just too much of a sprinter. We gave the mile a go, they’re only three once but it wasn’t for her, so we’ll just keep at the shorter distances for now.”
Stablemate Berbezier also provided a tidy third-placed performance earlier on the card, closing strongly in behind Russian Rosette and Patsy Spirit.
“He’s not a wet tracker, he got further back than we thought he would, but he flew home. We’re very happy with that run, so he’ll possibly back up on Tuesday (at Reefton),” Williams said.
The father-daughter duo have travelled to the West Coast circuit with several other runners and hope to emulate fond memories with The Buffer in Saturday’s Kumara Gold Nuggets (1810m).
In the hands of apprentice Kelsey Hannan, The Buffer ran his rivals ragged in the 2023 edition of the time-honoured Kumara feature and contests this year’s running alongside stablemate Follow Your Dreams.
Williams reported the Reliable Man seven-year-old had recovered well from a close second-placing in the Kurow Cup (1400m), and heads into Saturday’s event a top chance with Wilson’s claim reducing his weight to 56.5kg.
“The Buffer has come through that race really well, it was his first-up run in little while after having a couple of weeks off,” she said.
“He’s very well in himself, I galloped him myself today around Greymouth and he handled the wet track. All going well, he should be a good chance on Saturday.”
Runner-up in her last two starts, Proisir filly Zlatna will contest the Recreation Hotel/Alex Hayward/Noel Wafer Pow Memorial (1810m), while Williams will also have Descaro appearing earlier on the eight-race card at Kumara.
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