DREAMING BLUE gained his first success over fences with a fluent round of jumping under Rex Dingle at Doncaster on Friday in a £20,000 Novices Handicap Chase in the colours of Roger Devlin.
He has now won on the flat, over hurdles and fences, although there have been one or two hiccups along the way.
He gained his sole victory on the flat over a mile and half at Wolverhampton for Richard Fahey before we bought him with the help of Anthony Bromley from Highflyer hoping that he might develop into a candidate for the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.
But Dreaming Blue shaped as too much of a stayer, took a long time to get the hang of jumping hurdles and then picked up a little injury which put him out for a year. The break did him the world of good and he returned into training a different horse.
He won over hurdles at Fontwell in January last year and eventually he started to enjoy jumping which encouraged us to try him over fences. While he has been a slow burner he is getting there now.
Dreaming Blue’s sire Showcasing is usually an influence for speed but this fellow stays well, showed a good cruising speed at Doncaster and picked up nicely in the closing stages to win with something to spare.
We will look for another race for him over two and a half miles and would consider stepping him up to three miles at some point.
