THERE was a clear plan in place for Dreamdeel in the feature race, the $32,000 Glass 24/7 Wingham Cup at Taree on Sunday, and apprentice jockey Shae Wilkes carried it out to perfection for an easy win on the Allan Kehoe-trained gelding.
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Dreamdeel is a horse that races best when he is in the lead and with the rail out three metres everyone expected the track to race in favour of horses racing right up front or close to it.
So the fact the five-year-old was starting from the outside barrier in a field of 12 wasn't going to mean a thing and when the field jumped Wilkes gradually angled Dreamdeel across to the lead in the 1614-metre race.
The pace was brisk early, but Wilkes was still able to ease off a fraction and give Dreamdeel a bit of a breather for two or three hundred metres before speeding up again passing the 600 metres.
She obviously knew she had plenty of horse left and when she stepped the pace up to full bore the rest of the field was suddenly struggling to keep up.
Dreamdeel straightened up two lengths in front and the $4 favourite kept on going all the way down the straight to win comfortably by 1.17 lengths from Cenotes, with Strobing third.
It obviously didn't hurt that Dreamdeel had good wet-track form, with Taree ending up a Heavy 9 on the day after some decent drying weather finally allowed the surface to improve from a 10, and that one of his previous five wins had been on this track.
Kehoe, who trains at Wyong, has had the horse going great guns as well, with now four of his five career wins coming during his current campaign.
"It was definitely the plan, to try to get to the lead," Wilkes said. "Taking a sit was the back-up plan, but I was determined to get to the lead on him because he's a big, free-striding horse.
"He travelled so strong in the run. I was able to give him a bit of a break, but then past the 600 the way he was going - he was bowling along so well - I thought: 'May as well go now and see if I can pinch it'.
"It was great to get another winner for Al because I've ridden a bit of work down at Wyong for him and he's been a big supporter of mine."
Wilkes is indentured to her father - Taree trainer Wayne Wilkes - and has only been riding in races since March 2.
Impressive strike-rate
But she has already booted home 14 winners from 103 rides for an impressive winning strike-rate for a rookie of 13.6 per cent.
And while her father puts her on plenty of his horses she is also attracting more and more rides from outside trainers in a clear indication that she is improving all the time.
Her last three winners have all been for outside trainers - two on Kehoe-trained horses and another for Tamworth trainer Cody Morgan.
carried it out to perfection for an easy win on the Allan Kehoe-trained gelding.
Dreamdeel is a horse that races best when he is in the lead and with the rail out three metres everyone expected the track to race in favour of horses racing right up front or close to it.
So the fact the five-year-old was starting from the outside barrier in a field of 12 wasn't going to mean a thing and when the field jumped Wilkes gradually angled Dreamdeel across to the lead in the 1614-metre race.
The pace was brisk early, but Wilkes was still able to ease off a fraction and give Dreamdeel a bit of a breather for two or three hundred metres before speeding up again passing the 600 metres.
Full bore
She obviously knew she had plenty of horse left and when she stepped the pace up to full bore the rest of the field was suddenly struggling to keep up.
Dreamdeel straightened up two lengths in front and the $4 favourite kept on going all the way down the straight to win comfortably by 1.17 lengths from Cenotes, with Strobing third.
It obviously didn't hurt that Dreamdeel had good wet-track form, with Taree ending up a Heavy 9 on the day after some decent drying weather finally allowed the surface to improve from a 10, and that one of his previous five wins had been on this track.
Kehoe, who trains at Wyong, has had the horse going great guns as well, with now four of his five career wins coming during his current campaign.
"It was definitely the plan, to try to get to the lead," Wilkes said. "Taking a sit was the back-up plan, but I was determined to get to the lead on him because he's a big, free-striding horse.
"He travelled so strong in the run. I was able to give him a bit of a break, but then past the 600 the way he was going - he was bowling along so well - I thought: 'May as well go now and see if I can pinch it'.
"It was great to get another winner for Al because I've ridden a bit of work down at Wyong for him and he's been a big supporter of mine."
But she has already booted home 14 winners from 103 rides for an impressive winning strike-rate for a rookie of 13.6 per cent.
And while her father puts her on plenty of his horses she is also attracting more and more rides from outside trainers in a clear indication that she is improving all the time.
Her last three winners have all been for outside trainers - two on Kehoe-trained horses and another for Tamworth trainer Cody Morgan.
