Nobody really wants a front-running steeplechaser. It’s a vulnerable position, easily poached with a late run from behind and susceptible to variable circumstances. Which is why Racey Dreamer’s connections at EMO Stables were delighted that their front-running horse was able to settle in and relax behind the rapid pace of Shady Valley (Tom Foley) in the $50,000 David L. “Zeke” Ferguson Memorial grade III hurdle stakes. Racey Dreamer then ran the gray down in the stretch to take his fourth win in four starts.Saitensohn (David Bentley) was third at Colonial Downs, New Kent, Va., July 11.

“We were delighted with him that he was able to settle,” said James Piper, winning trainer Doug Fout’s assistant. “We wondered if [jockey Matt McCarron] had left the waiting tactics a little too long since he only caught him in the stretch, but the plan all along was to let Shady Valley do the donkey work since we knew he’d be the speed horse.”

Against a field of six, Shady Valley set off quickly, opening up a six- to eight-length lead on the open stakes field. McCarron wasn’t entirely sure he’d timed his race right either. “The pace was ridiculously fast, and he was happy enough to settle, but in all three of this horse’s previous starts, he’s never been headed, so I wasn’t sure if my horse had the turn of foot or if he even wanted to go after another horse,” he mused. But McCarron said that when he did call on Racey Dreamer to go after the leader, the horse gave him all he needed.

“He didn’t really seem to have a huge turn of foot, but he just wore down Shady Valley with a relentless effort,” he said. “The whole key to this horse will be the pace of the race; as long as it’s fast, he’ll be able to settle, but don’t be surprised to see him on the front end again if there’s not enough pace.”

McCarron and Piper each gave kudos to Shady Valley’s gutsy try in his first stakes race. A Carnivalay son, owned by Anne Haynes and trained by husband Bruce Haynes, Shady Valley had only just broken his maiden this summer at Colonial Downs. “He almost won too,” said McCarron. “I was the prohibitive favorite in the race, and there were times when I thought I wouldn’t pull it off.” Piper also took his proverbial hat off to Foley for driving his tiring mount down to the last. “His horse put in a horrible jump at the second-last fence, and Foley went for the last as if he hadn’t a care in the world,” said Piper. “That horse ran a hell of a race.”

Racey Dreamer’s speedy ways on the track belie his otherwise laid-back and mellow attitude at home, said Piper. He said the chestnut son of A.P. Indy switches off during his exercise gallops, and on the ground is an “easy, kind, sweet, amiable fellow. He always eats up, and at the races, he’s so unfazed, “I’d let a 5-year-old handle him,” said Piper. “Compared to the rest of this lot [Fout’s 20-horse stable], he’s the one that gives me the very least stress.”

NEW KENT, VA–JULY 11.
sSport of Kings Maiden Hurdle. 2