Slave Dream begins his bid for his fourth straight Meadowlands stakes title in the $40,000 prep for the Titan Cup on Friday night
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He will be joined in the third race feature by Arch Madness, Buck I St Pat, Enough Talk, Four Starz Speed and Pilgrims Chuckie. The six prep race entrants will meet four others - Corleone Kosmos, Lucky Jim and Neighsay Hanover - in the $220,750 Titan Cup final on Saturday, July 2.
Trained by Frank O'Reilly, Slave Dream is rated at 2-1 from post four in the prep. In his last two Meadowlands appearances, he captured the $200,000 Arthur J. Cutler Memorial (May 14, 2011) and $400,000 Nat Ray Invitational (August 7, 2010). Slave Dream also swept both legs and the final of the 2009 Hiram Woodruff Series, making him perfect in all of his stakes efforts at the East Rutherford oval.
"The Titan Cup will be a major test, and he'll be ready for that," O'Reilly said. "Then, it will be two weeks before he's back at Mohawk for the Maple Leaf Trot. That will give me a little time to have him ready for that one. He likes to race every 10 to 14 days, and he can be productive doing that. He likes the footing at the Meadowlands."
Slave Dream's career best 1:52 mile in the 2010 Nat Ray came despite a break in stride at the start of the race.
"The timing was perfect for last year's Nat Ray," O'Reilly noted. "I had him good and tight, and actually sounder when he got to the Meadowlands.
"It was incredible," he continued. "I was never in my life so disappointed and elated in a minute and 52 seconds. He broke at the start, but when I saw John Campbell had a bow on his neck turning for home, I knew he'd win if he got through."
O'Reilly, 48, has trained the six-year-old Quebec-bred since August 2009 for owners Franco Cianci and Isidoro Russo. Slave Dream won his first two starts for O'Reilly, who took over the lines from Jean Beaulieu, and has competed at the open level ever since. Lifetime, the son of Pearsall Hanover-Hungarie F has 22 wins from 63 starts and $858,996 in earnings.
"I'm hoping he's got a few more fights left in him," O'Reilly said. "We have to be careful with this horse because he's always had some issues. He's obviously not a horse you're going to race 25 times a year and be productive. Last year, he only started 10 times and averaged about $36,000 per start."
After his disappointing performance in the Breeders Crown last October at Mohegan Sun Pocono, the trotter underwent surgery to remove bone chips from two of his ankles.
"He's always been tough with his feet," O'Reilly said. "He's got small feet for a big horse.
"There are only so many big fights in these horses. If you're here [in Canada], you have to go against San Pail, and it's certainly not any easier in New Jersey. Every race is like a title fight."
Slave Dream represents the prize fighter of a lifetime for the Ontario-based trainer. O'Reilly, 48, was one of 13 children born to his father, Francis, a dairy farmer, and mother, Noreen. He left his home on Wolfe Island in his late teens to work for trainer Ernie Spruce at the now defunct Greenwood Raceway in Toronto. He slept in a tack room, and from humble beginnings, came a long way to stand in the Meadowlands winner's circle with Slave Dream.
"How did I get into the horse business?" he mused. "Bad luck, I guess. I was too lazy to work and too nervous to steal. I had a couple of friends on Wolfe Island, Joe Hogan and Joe Hawkins, who raced horses in Kingston, Ontario. I was always going to the track with one of them."
O'Reilly raced at Blue Bonnets in Montreal for eight years before settling in Ontario 18 years ago. While in Quebec, he met Normand Mondoux, co-owner of Runnymede Lobell, who eventually introduced him to Slave Dream's owners. O'Reilly has always maintained a small, but profitable stable.
"We have had a pretty good run racing young trotters in the Ontario Sires Stakes program," he said. "It seems the fillies have always been stronger for us. We had a mare named Caught My Eye, who made a half-million. Warrawee June made $300,000. Cumin First almost had $300,000.
"We just had a pretty nice three-year-old trotting colt, Traverse Seelster, win in 1:55.4 at Mohawk," he added. "He's a real productive son of Angus Hall, and he'll be in the sire stakes again on Saturday at Kawartha Downs."
(Meadowlands Racetrack)