Is this our next superstar?

“WE might have unearthed a star here!”

They were the words of ace racecaller Dan Mielicki after Draw A Dream’s mesmerizing display in the second of the Vicbred Super Series semi-finals for two-year-old fillies at melton last weekend.

Kerryn Manning continued her unbeaten record with the Emma Stewart-trained juvenile, who looped the field to the death seat and then charged clear to win by 28m in a mile rate of 1:55.8.

“I’ve been lucky enough to drive her on every occasion and she just seems to get better and better,” Manning said.

“She did that so easily.

“She’s very fast, but she actually seems to stay really well too. She sort of jogged up there the last lap and just kept marching.

“I didn’t have to pull the plugs or really hit her, just talk to her up the straight. They did a bit early in the run so it was run to suit, but she did it really comfortably.”

Draw A Dream carved out closing sections of 29.02sec and 27.16sec to beat David Miles-trained place-getters Vivacious Stride and Look Like Diamonds for a third career victory.

Stablemate Renewal bounced back from a heat defeat to win her two-year-old fillies’ semi-final a short time earlier.

With Kate Gath at the controls, the daughter of American Ideal produced a sustained run from back in the field during the last lap to defeat David Miles’ Destiny Stride and David Aiken’s Rocknroll Sloy by a big margin.

“That race was put on for her then and that was just the best place to be where we were (back in the field), but she’s a really nice horse and I think she’ll keep getting better,” Gath said.

Mark Pitt found it hard to split Stormryder with last year’s two-year-old Vicbred champion The Lost Storm after he carved out a slick closing half mile to win the first of the semis for the juvenile colts and geldings.

The gun youngster was unchallenged for the lead and reeled off an electric 54.04sec last 800m split to beat fellow Emma Stewart-trained pacer Kingman, who closed the margin to a half-length with his gallant effort from the back row.

Stewart trained the first five horses over the line with Miki To Success third, Some American fourth and Bay Of Biscay fifth.

“It’s hard to make calls against each other, but they’re probably at the same sort of start to their career,” Pitt said when asked to compare Stormryder with The Lost Storm.

“I’d probably put them on a par.”

Keith Cotchin and Tayla French combined with Our Luciano to spoil the Stewart party in the second of the two-year-old boys’ qualifiers.

The son of Sweet Lou ended up in the one out, two back spot when War Dan Buddy amazingly found the early lead from outside the back row, before French brought him down to the pegs as the field turned for home the final time. And it proved an inspired move as the horse charged through along the sprint lane and finished best to claim victory over Stewart’s No Notthebuttons and Nathan Jack’s Chart Topper.

“They’re always probably the underdogs in these kind of fields, going up against the top trainers of the game,” French said of the Cotchin stable.

“They don’t really go in overly rated, but their horses, they know them inside out and they do a terrific job with them.

“(Our Luciano) just needs a barrier draw like most horses do, but he’s definitely got the speed in his legs. He’s very, very quick. Fingers crossed for a good draw next week and he won’t be too far away.”

The first six horses across the line in each semi-final qualify for next Saturday night’s Group 1 finals at Melton, with the fastest seventh in each division progressing as the emergency.

Draws for next weekend’s showdowns will be completed on Tuesday.

  – HRV Media