Amazing Dream chasing Kilmore Cup history

Mighty mare Amazing Dream has spent much of her career defying the odds.

And now she’s out to do it again in two of Victoria’s biggest races over the next few weeks.

The former Kiwi superstar returns from a short spell in Friday night’s $80,000 Group 2 Kilmore Pacing Cup (2690m).

Since Australia’s most iconic country cup started in 1964, only one mare – Make Mine Cullen in 2010 – has been able to beat the boys.

Amazing Dream then heads to the $300,000 Group 1 Victoria Cup on October 9 where she will be aiming to become the first mare in the history of the great race, which started in 1974, to be victorious.

“She’s no ordinary mare, she’s very special,” trainer Nathan Purdon said. “History might be against her in these races, but that hasn’t bothered her in the past.”

Amazing Dream has won nine Group 1 races, four of them against the boys in the Northern Derby and Auckland Cup in NZ and, more recently in the inaugural Rising Sun and Blacks A Fake in Queensland.

“You’d have to say she beat a better field in the Blacks A Fake then she’ll meet at Kilmore or even in the Victoria Cup,” driver Anthony Butt said.

“King Of Swing will be in the Victoria Cup and is obviously the one to beat, but he was in the Blacks A Fake and so too was Copy That.”

Despite Amazing Dream being first-up since that Blacks A Fake win on July 24, Purdon insists she is primed.

“Her trial was terrific a couple of weeks back and she’s as fit as I can possibly have her without a race,” he said.

“I think she looks better than she did in Queensland when she was at the end of a long campaign and some hard racing. She seems brighter and her work at home is fantastic.

“Some might think the back row draw (gate 10) is a negative, but I don’t. There’s plenty of speed off the front, she can settle early and then she’s so versatile, Anthony (Butt) has options when to make his move.”

Butt added: “The long (2690m) trip is a big plus for her. If she’s been vulnerable, it’s in sprint races. She’s so tough and when most would be struggling, her great quality is finding a way to dig deep over the last 400m.”

Three of Amazing Dream’s Group 1 wins over the boys have been in staying races at 2680m or further.

Purdon, the now Victorian-based son of champion Kiwi horseman Mark Purdon, is also bullish about his other stable star, American Dealer, who returns from his fantastic Queensland Derby-winning campaign at Kilmore.

“He’s obviously new to me, having just joined my stable after Queensland, but he’s easy to like. I thought his trial was really good at Melton a couple of weeks back and it’s good having the input from Anthony (Butt) who drove him in Queensland,” he said.

“I haven’t quite got him as screwed-down as Amazing Dream because this is American Dealer’s first of three runs in as many weeks into the (Victoria) Derby, but he’s very well and ready to run a big race.”

By Adam Hamilton