Crystal Dreamer makes it three in a row at Caulfield
PROMISING gelding Crystal Dreamer recorded its third straight win at Caulfield since returning in early December in the highest graded race of its 12 start career.
The Simon Zahra-trained four-year-old camped just off the speed behind front-runner Danuki and toughed it out to salute at $2.80 odds with Sportsbet.com.au in its first attempt in benchmark 84 company.
Four-year-old mare Atlantic Dreamer finished off well from the back of the field to claim second at the $5.40 quote at WilliamHill.com.au while Danuki could not see out the 1200m, but battled on gamely for third.
Jockey Andrew Mallyon said Crystal Dreamer still has a lot of work to do if it is to continue its winning ways but the latent talent is hard to deny.
“He’s a bit quirky, he does a couple of little things wrong.” Mallyon said.
“There’s still plenty of upside about him. The penny definitely hasn’t dropped – it’ll be nice to see when he sort of furnishes so we can finally see the best of him.”
Zahra reiterated Mallyon’s comments on the precocious four-year-old.
“We’ve taken our time with him and it’s good to see him get the job done today.” Zahra said.
“He tried to get himself beat mid-race when he wanted to overdo it, but hopefully he can learn from it.”
Zahra believes it is somewhat concerning that after over a year’s worth of racing experience Crystal Dreamer is still making maiden mistakes, but said the team is confident the horse can overcome its issues to progress through the grades.
“He’s on his eighth or ninth start and he’s still overdoing it but it was his first go at 1200m with Andrew on and he got the job done,” Zahra said
“I think a bit more speed in the races will help him.”
Zahra confirmed the team will persist with Crystal Dreamer while the horse is in such a rich vein of form.
“We’ll keep going with him for sure… while they’re fit you keep them going.”