A Dream To Share beats Fact To File © Photo Healy Racing
A Dream To Share (12/1) landed the Shabra Charity Oliver Brady Memorial Future Stars Bumper under John Gleeson.
Owned and bred by the winning rider's father Brian and trained by John Kiely, the Muhaarar five-year-old was dropped in at the rear before beginning to make headway three furlongs out.
Turning into the straight on the outside, Gleeson was able to take a pull as his mount moved upsides Fact To File two furlongs out. The front pair quickly drew clear of the rest and A Dream To Share hit the front over a furlong out before being pushed out to score by two and a half lengths under his jubilant rider.
The only dual winner in the field after landing two summer bumpers last year, A Dream To Share was conceding upwards of 3lb to his rivals and, of course, Gleeson was unable to utilise his 7lb claim in this Grade Two contest.
When asked what he was expecting today Kiely said: “I didn't know to be honest because we haven't that much to work him with but we always liked him.
“We were thinking 'how good was the race in the junction' and then he seemed to struggle a little in Roscommon.
“Until you come out and find out here you don't know. He gave weight to the whole lot as well.
“We liked him and we were anxious that he would bring John Gleeson along, that's why we waited for this race. We would have gone hurdling other than that.”
Owner Brian Gleeson added: “It was so emotional, I watched it with my wife Claire and it was just special.
“We bred him and we bred the jockey. We dreamed of this, we named this horse on Christmas Day and I dreamed of winning this race.
“This is the first chapter and the second chapter is Cheltenham in March.”
On his son he added: “He's been trained by a maestro in John Kiely and he has great people around him. He's done everything with this horse.
“I can't believe I'm standing here talking to you having had a winner at the Dublin Racing Festival as an owner and breeder. It's the stuff of dreams.
“I genuinely thought this horse could be a Montelado or a Rite Of Passage. He's a half-brother to Raise You and we have the dam at home and I had the grand-dam. It's fairytale stuff.”
Quotes from Gary Carson
