If I Can Dream races from post No. 4 in Saturday’s $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup with George Brennan, who has driven the colt in most of his starts
last year and this year, including his 1:51.1 elimination win by 2-1/2 lengths over Annieswesterncard on June 20.
Brennan said the son of Western Hanover did not have much homework to do over the winter. Last season, If I Can Dream posted his top victory in the Matron Stakes at Dover Downs. The previous week, in the Matron elims, he won in 1:50.4 to become the fastest two-year-old pacer in history on a five-eighths of a mile track.
“He’s definitely a little fine-tuned, but he’s still pretty much the same horse,” Brennan said. “Good gate speed, he follows real good, and the other night, for the first time, I had him on the lead [from the half mile mark on] and he responded well off that trip also. He’s got a real good mouth on him, he can come off the gate [at the start] and he leaves fine, so there wasn’t anything I was looking to improve on in the off season.”
Brennan does not think the colt needs any particular kind of trip to show his best on Saturday.
“Anywhere up to the lead would be fine,” Brennan said. “If I have to be on the lead, that’s fine, the three hole, anything like that would work out great. At Yonkers [in winning the Art Rooney Pace on June 13], I blasted him out of there and he sat in the two hole behind Hypnotic Blue Chip with no problems at all. He’s real handy that way and it makes my job easier.”
No single horse in the race concerns Brennan.
“Well Said looks really good, but when you have to be one-two in those races [to qualify for the final], just to be one-two, and even if you were third and got in by lot, those horses raced good also. It’s a really competitive race and it’ll be interesting.”
To view Saturday's entries, click here.
(Harness Racing Communications)
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