The Group I Nunthorpe Stakes (5f) at York last night featured a field including G1 sprint stars Highfield Princess and Bradsell, but the glamour pair were run off their feet by an unknown gelding having his first run in a G1 race!
Aptly named Live in the Dream had never won a stakes race, but had run well enough to place in several giving trainer Adam West the confidence to roll the dice.
Ridden a heady race by Sean Kirrane he led all the way to win by a length over Highfield Princess and Bradsell to the great surprise of punters.
A four year-old gelding by Kodiac stallion Prince of Lir, Live in the Moment was the first G1 winner for the trainer, jockey, owner and sire!
"I left the parade ring on a 28-1 shot and I was waiting for them to come and get me. That allowed me a little bit more time to keep my horse on the bridle and that really suited him. When I asked him, God didn't he quicken away from them? He's done it so well. It's a surreal experience. It's massive for me,” said Sean Kirrane.
Adam West was elated after the win with the Breeders Cup Turf Sprint a possibility for the future.
"I'm going to swallow my chewing gum! I was waiting for them to come to him and he just found a little bit more. It was amazing,” he said.
"He's always been very, very quick. At the beginning of his career I was frustrated that he never was allowed to use it.
"Everyone was riding a little conservatively and it took Sean to listen to me and ride him at home and work it out that we just needed to nick those lengths. On these tracks he's very hard to peg back."
Live in the Dream was bought for just 24,000 pounds from the Goffs Sportsman’s Yearling Sale and runs for Steve and Jolene De’Lemos. He has the overall record of six wins and four placings from 18 starts with this victory his first in a stakes race.
Live in the Dream is a half-brother to stakes-placed Live in the Moment and is the best of four winners from Approaching Autumn, an unraced New Approach daughter of stakes-winner Autumn Wealth.
He is the first Group I winner among three stakes-winners for Prince of Lir, who was standing at Ballyhane Stud in Ireland for 3,300 euros before his sale to India last year.
