Jess’s Dream Wins Debut With Stunning Late Run

Photo by Coglianese Photos/Susie Raisher

Jess’s Dream, the first foal out of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, unleashed an astonishing rally from off-the-pace to win his debut in spectacular fashion on August 24th at Saratoga.

Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, the three-year-old son of Curlin was sent off as the second choice at 3-1 against six rivals. With John Velazquez in the saddle, Jess’s Dream broke slowly at the start of the nine-furlong race and quickly dropped well behind the leaders, to the point where he may have been trailing by as many as 20 lengths on the backstretch. But on the final turn, Jess’s Dream began to gain ground, and entering the homestretch he was absolutely flying, gaining ground with every stride. Passing the eighth pole, it looked like he was still too far back to win, but the colt never stopped charging and got up in the final strides to win going away by a length.

The final time was 1:49.06 seconds, a very quick time especially considering that the fractions were modest–:23:03, :47.85, 1:11.82, and 1:36.47. According to Trakus, which times the races at Saratoga, Jess’s Dream ran his final quarter-mile in an exceptional :23.66 seconds.

Jess’s Dream is the second foal by Rachel Alexandra to win at the races. His younger sister, Rachel’s Valentina, broke her maiden impressively at Saratoga on August 2nd.

“Jess’s Dream is a reality!” A perfect call from @larrycollmus for an amazing debut. pic.twitter.com/0JPpXW9TpK

— NYRA (@TheNYRA) August 24, 2015

WOOOOOOHHHHOOOOO!! #jess‘sdream #bredandraised @TheNYRA @ljlmvel @KPMRacingStable @barbarabanke pic.twitter.com/fdbYyjXjly

— Stonestreet Farm (@StonestreetFarm) August 24, 2015

Jess’s Dream!! #BredandRaised pic.twitter.com/xQIC4zgGs6

— Stonestreet Farm (@StonestreetFarm) August 24, 2015

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