Follow Your Dreams has been absent from the winner’s circle for the last 12 months, but he broke that drought, almost to the day, when victorious in the Ken Gray Memorial Reefton Cup (1400m) on Tuesday.
The son of Contributer settled to the rear of the pack for jockey Corey Campbell in the West Coast feature as Diamond Girl set her customary blistering pace up front, opening up several margins on the main pack. Campbell pushed his charge forward at the 900m mark to sit parked in the main bunch as they continued to hunt down the pacemaker.
They caught the leader with 150m to go and Follow Your Dreams entered a dogfight with Tap ‘n’ Go down the straight, eventually getting the better of his foe to win by a long neck, while stablemate The Buffer ran home well to finish a further 2-1/4 lengths back in third in the hands of stable apprentice Danika Wilson.
“Both of the horses went well,” said Krystal Williams, who trains in partnership with her father Ken Rae.
“Follow Your Dreams was more forward than the other one and it was nice to see him get a win again because he has been out of the winner’s circle for quite a while.
“I thought over the last few runs Follow Your Dreams has been really close to picking up that win. The horse he is this time in is a lot better than he was over the winter, we have just been waiting for it to happen.”
Williams was a little disappointed in The Buffer’s result, but was proud of her charge nonetheless.
“His run wasn’t as good as it could have been. He came a bit wide on the home bend, but he has battled on for third like he always does, he is a tough little warhorse,” she said.
Follow Your Dreams is now on a path towards the $350,000 Southern Alps Challenge (1600m) at Riccarton on April 13.
“We brought Follow Your Dreams down to the South Island stable for that mile race later in the year for South Island horses only,” Williams said. “That is something we are going to work towards, but whether or not we get him there I don’t know.”
The stable also picked up two further placings on the undercard courtesy of Berbizier in the Archmore Contracting/PAC RIM 2021 and The Roaring Tiger in the Vernon Vazey Truck Parts (1400m).
“Berbizier and The Roaring Tiger both went well today. They were quite fast-run races so it was hope for the best and see what we could do,” Williams said.
Williams has enjoyed the West Coast hospitality and said she looks forward to heading to the holiday carnival every year.
“This is about my 11th year now (coming to the West Coast),” she said. “We have made some very good friends with the locals and we catch-up with them every time we come back. We have made new owners from each time we have come over. We always have a great time and the kids all really enjoy it."