Dream Awhile was multiple stakes-placed in France for Jean-Claude Rouget before coming to the States and into the barn of Chad Brown. She was beaten by less than a length when third in her U.S. debut at Aqueduct Nov. 9.
The 5-2 shot settled into stride between horses in midpack heading into the first turn and stayed tucked in before being asked to go by John Velazquez entering the home bend. Swung out into the six path off the second turn, Dream Awhile kept on charging down the center of the track, got up inside the final strides and held off Westit for the score.
“My strategy going into this race was to break well and get a good position and get comfortable with her,” winning jockey John Velazquez said. “All of a sudden everyone started checking back and I got into a little bit of a tight spot going into the first turn and had to pull out of there in between horses on the backstretch. Once I got out of the backstretch, she was more controllable. By the half-mile pole I was just looking for space to go through and by the three-eighths pole I got to the outside and squeezed between two horses and once I got to the quarter-pole she was running.”
This is the second stakes winner out of Baroness Richter, who was a SW in France herself and a half to Japanese Group winner Kongo Rikishio (Ire) (Stravinsky). Baroness Richter also has a yearling full-sister to Dream Awhile named Let Yourself Go and a weanling filly named North Carolina (Speightstown).
TROPICAL PARK OAKS, $75,000, GP, 12-30, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:42.77, fm.
1–DREAM AWHILE, 117, f, 3, by War Front
1st Dam: Baroness Richter (Ire)(SW-Fr, $70,435), by Montjeu (Ire)
2nd Dam: Principium, by Hansel
3rd Dam: Nazoo (Ire), by Nijinsky II
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O/B-Joseph Allen, LLC (KY); T-Chad C.
Brown; J-John R. Velazquez. $42,780. Lifetime Record: 7-3-0-3,
$98,689. *1/2 to Dear Lavinia (Grand Slam), SW-Fr, $102,830.
2–Westit (GB), 117, f, 3, Tapit–West Ocean, by Elusive Quality.
O/B-Wertheimer Et Frere (GB); T-H. Graham Motion. $13,800.
3–Storm the Hill, 121, f, 3, Get Stormy–Thornhill, by Good and
Tough. ($275,000 3yo '17 KEENOV). O-Alastar Thoroughbred
Company LLC & Michael Valdes,; B-Kimberly S. & William B.
Bradley (KY); T-Eddie Kenneally. $6,900.[bullet ad=”bluewater-itsinthewater”]Margins: 3/4, NK, 1 1/4. Odds: 2.70, 6.40, 5.10.
Also Ran: Ellery Lane (Ire), Bernadiva, Miss Sky Warrior, Rose Tree, Momentiempo, Jaunt, Charged, Overnegotiate, Bigkat and Camille, Bride Street.
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