Second Stakes Success for Illicit Dreams (NZ)

Kenny Rae’s $30,000 purchase from Book 2 of Karaka 2022 has turned out to be a quality sprinting mare that has performed at black-type level at the ages of two, three and four.

Illicit Dreams (NZ) (Vancouver) collected her second stakes win with a bold front-running display in Saturday’s $90,000 Listed Donaldson Brown Pegasus Stakes (1000m) at Riccarton. She has now had 19 starts for five wins, eight placings and $181,615 in stakes – six times her purchase price.

Despite being trained at Ruakaka in the Northland region of New Zealand’s North Island, it has been at Riccarton in the South Island that she has made her name. She won the Listed Champagne Stakes (1200m) there as an autumn two-year-old last year, then returned a few months later to place in the Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) in the spring.

She produced a dominant performance in the Pegasus Stakes on Saturday, leading all the way in the hands of jockey Sam Spratt. She had plenty left up her sleeve when challenged in the straight, clinging on tenaciously to hold out South Of Houston (Deep Field) by a half-neck. She ran the 1000 metres in a quick 55.3 seconds.

“This horse was ready to run today, they said she’d been working beautifully down here,” Spratt said. “Kenny told me that she might be a step slow away, but once she gets up and running, she’s off. We managed to get the kick right today, and I was pretty happy once we did that. She cruised along at a really nice speed.”

Rae will consider backing the four-year-old up to shoot for a feature sprinting double in next Saturday’s $140,000 Listed Stewards’ Stakes (1200m).

“Well, we’ve got one win from the trip down south anyway,” Rae said. “I was thinking of going straight into the Stewards’ Stakes next week with her, but then I thought you can get bad luck with draws and things like that. She can still back up next week now, but if she doesn’t, we’ve got a prize anyway.

“I thought she was at false odds coming into this, and we’ve got the result. I’d like to thank the owners, and one of them isn’t here today because he’s been a bit crook lately. It’s a big trip down for this carnival. I’ve got a lot of good people behind me that make it possible, and I’d like to thank them as well.”