Racing: Winning debut for Dream filly at Te Aroha

Dream Queen is well clear as she heads to the finish line at Te Aroha. Photo / Race Images

Trainer Ken Rae knew he had just the sort of filly he likes dealing with when he picked her up on the float on the way home from a trip away.

The Super Easy weanling had been purchased by Rae for owner Sue Martin off the gavelhouse.com site and needed to be collected from Mark and Denny Baker's Hallmark Stud. Rae was bringing home experienced gallopers Kaharau and Blanco Bay and was taken with how the filly handled herself through the process.

"Sue had asked me to bid for her on gavelhouse and I think we got her for $1500," Rae said. "I was bringing home Kaharau and Blanco Bay one day and stopped off at Hallmark to collect her. She walked straight on the float without a care in the world, which had me thinking she was my type of horse, easy to handle."

Rae took his time with the filly, now named Dream Queen, and gave her two trials before starting her over 1000m at Te Aroha on Sunday. Under the guidance of Jasmine Fawcett, Dream Queen missed away before improving along the inner to take over on the home turn and run away from her 2-year-old rivals to score by more than a length at the line.

Rae, campaigning a team on the West Coast circuit, watched the race on television and was delighted with the result.

"She showed us at her recent trial that she had some ability, as she ran second to a smart one of Richard Collett's," he said. "The third horse that day came out and won first up at Awapuni, so I knew we had one that could gallop. Sue said to me should we enter her for Ellerslie on Boxing Day, but I thought the field there might be a little tough and we should wait for something easier.

"The way she won [yesterday] was great, so I'll need to have a think about what to do next. I don't have anything planned, but if she came out and won again, then a race like the Matamata Breeders' Stakes [Group 2, 1200m] might well be a target for her."

Rae also reported that classy 2-year-old colt Follow Your Dreams had come through his run at Ellerslie on Boxing Day in fine fettle and would head straight to the Karaka Million 2YO (1200m) on January 23.

The Contributer colt made up good ground in the straight after getting well back off a wide barrier, finishing fifth behind Palamos.

- NZ Racing Desk