Dream Ahead closed out the 2017-18 season as one of the best third crop sires in the world. He is ahead of his Australian peers So You Think, Foxwedge, Smart Missile and Love Conquers All with his Stakes winners to runners percentage, as well as his AEI (average earning index) – arguably the best measure for rating a sire's ability at stud.
It is no surprise that Dream Ahead is excelling at stud – bred in
the purple, he is a five-time Group One winner who was Joint-Champion 2YO (with
Frankel) and he trained on to become both Champion 3YO and Champion Sprinter in
Europe.
At stud Dream Ahead's career took off from the start, siring Group One winner Al Wukair in his first crop. He is the sire of 19 individual Stakes winners from his first three crops to race and his other Group One performers include Donjuan Triumphant and Shumookh – 3rd behind Shoals and Torvill in the ATC Surround Stakes (1400m) last preparation.
Trained by the Waterhouse/Bott team, and bred and raced by Emirates Park, Shumookh is back in work and in fantastic order according to Bryan Carlson, General Manager of Emirates Park. The 4YO who trialled impressively at Randwick last week, will be aimed at the headline mare races in Melbourne, including the Group One Myer Classic. View her trial here.
Dream Ahead has been making headlines in Europe in recent weeks
thanks to his unbeaten 2YO colt Dark Vision, a last start winner of the Group
Two Vintage Stakes for trainer Mark Johnston. The trainer is now aiming to step
the colt up to Group One company following his eye-watering performance in the
Vintage Stakes. "It was an incredible performance, that's why I keep
watching it again," said Johnston.
"It was so surprising that we're all looking for reasons. Was it faster up the middle? Was it the pace of the race? But when you watch it again, the third horse came up the middle and from the back, the same as Dark Vision. But Dark Vision has come from two or three lengths behind and swept past while it is making its run. No matter how you look at it, it was just an exceptional performance."
"We put him in at the second entry stage for the [Group One] National Stakes and I'd think you're most likely to see him next in that or the [Group One] Dewhurst, or both."
Johnston told the Racing Post that he aims his good two-year-olds at the Group Two Vintage Stakes and his three previous winners, Mister Baileys, Lucky Story and Shamardal, all proved high-class horses; "Two were Group One winners and the other was the Champion Three-Year-Old Miler," he said. "I always think of the race as a top-class mid-season trial."
Like so many of Dream Ahead's best runners, Dark Vision is out of a Danehill line mare. Completely free of Danehill himself, eight of Dream Ahead's Stakes winners are out of Danehill line mares and he is a stallion that has nicked particularly well with Redoute's Choice mares, siring four winners from four runners, including the Group Three winner Dreams Aplenty, and the Stakes winners Awaken and Generalissimo.
With a big crop of 2YOs coming through on the back of his early success at stud, and having covered 268 mares at Aquis in the last two seasons, Dream Ahead is positioned to stay ahead for many years to come.
Visit http://aquisfarm.com/stallions/dream-ahead/or contact a member of our sales team today to book in your mare: Nick Taylor (0417 365 553), Bernie Kane (0472 832 199), Paul Knight (0410 683 469) or Jimmy Unwala (0488 217 875).
