Preparing the duo for action

Having started her season by claiming Group Two glory in the Dahlia Stakes, before striking overseas when plundering the Group One Prix d’Ispahan at ParisLongchamp, Dreamloper was never a threat in her most recent outing in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh.

Keen for the majority of that 10-furlong contest, she was reported to be never travelling on ground that wasn’t to her liking and her handler is keen to put a line through that effort.

The Pretty Polly was Dreamloper’s first try at a mile and a quarter and she is set to stick at that distance for her next outing, with the Nassau Stakes during the Qatar Goodwood Festival a race Walker believes will suit her well.

“It was a bit of a no show really and if I had my time again, I would have scratched her. It was a bit of a shame as we ummed and ahed over whether to go. We were always going to the Pretty Polly, then changed our minds and were thinking Falmouth and then back to the Pretty Polly and as it turned out the Falmouth on very fast ground would have been the better spot probably.

“But that’s life and she’s come out of the race good and now we’ll head to the Nassau Stakes and hope this weather holds good and we get some good summer ground. An easy 10 furlongs should be ideal for her.”

Similar sentiments also apply to stablemate Primo Bacio, who struggled to land a blow in a red-hot renewal of the Falmouth Stakes during Newmarket’s July Festival. The four-year-old is now set to drop back in trip, with the Oak Tree Stakes over seven furlongs, also on the Sussex Downs, a possible next target.

Walker continued: “It was a solid run (in the Falmouth), if not slightly disappointing. It probably wasn’t up to the same level as her performance in it the previous year, but she ran fine. It was hard to make up ground and the pace held up well.

Meawhile, last season’s Sagaro Stakes runner-up Ocean Wind is pencilled in to make his long-awaited return in the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup.

Runner-up to triple Gold Cup winner Stradivarius at Ascot in April 2021, he has not run since finishing third to Lismore in the Henry II at Sandown 14 months ago.

Having overcome a setback, trainer Roger Teal is now looking to kick on with the top staying prospect.

“He hasn’t run for a while but fingers crossed we can get to Goodwood in one piece. The plan is to run if all is well,” said the Lambourn trainer.

“He was third in the Henry II on horrendous ground last May and I probably shouldn’t have run him. That was one we can write off, I think.

“We will rewind to him being beaten a length by Stradivarius and forget the last one.”

Teal feels a Cup campaign could be on the cards thereafter, with York’s Lonsdale Cup on August 21 tabbed as his next target.

“I have got him in at Goodwood and we have him in a Group Two over two miles at York’s Ebor meeting,” he added.