ONE of Tasmania’s best performed stayers Dream Pedlar has run his last race.
Dream Pedlar finished a gallant third behind Geegees Blackflash in last week’s Group 3 AAMI Launceston Cup but despite being in good health and with no injury problems; connections have opted to retire the eight-year-old gelding.
Dream Pedlar faced the starter for the first time as a two-year-old in the care of the late Alan Stubbs and he finished third behind the very smart filly Arapeho.
The horse was spelled and owners Dr Michael Mee and Dr Rob Nightingale sent him to Troy Blacker who shared a special partnership with the gelded son of West Quest.
The horse took Blacker on a ride that had him mixing it with the best in the land.
Blacker took Dream Pedlar to Melbourne for a number of campaigns where the gelding tackled some of the best races on the calendar.
One of the gelding’s best wins was in the Group 3 $200,000 JRA Cup at Moonee Valley in which he was partnered by Craig Newitt.
“You don’t get horses like Dream Pedlar come into your stable every day so it is obviously sad to see him leave the yard,” Blacker said.
“He has taken me on a wonderful journey and his record tells us that he achieved some wonderful results and that he was a very versatile and consistent galloper,” he said.
Dream Pedlar showed enormous potential as a young horse and Blacker and the owners were prepared to give him time to develop.
“From the time he placed third in the Tasmanian Derby (2008) as the first Tasmanian horse home he raced at the top level and was very competitive,” he said.
Blacker rates the gelding’s 2010-11 season as his best and that was echoed by the Tasmanian Racehorse of the Year judging panel who voted Dream Pedlar the state’s best that season.
“He went from strength to strength that season starting with a win in the Ballarat Gold Nugget (1600m) followed by a game fourth in the David Jones Cup at Caulfield that tightened him up nicely for the Bendigo Cup (2200m) that he won beating a top class field.”
“He then went to the Queen’s Cup at Flemington that was pretty much a Melbourne Cup consolation race over 2600m and he ran fourth to Moudre that was favourite to win the Melbourne Cup but was balloted out.”
“He finished only 1.3 lengths from Moudre over 2600m that really stretched my horse but he went down fighting,” he said.
But what capped his season was returning home to Tasmania and winning the Listed weight-for-age Tasmania Stakes (1600m) and the $100,000 Devonport Cup carrying 61kg.
Dream Pedlar never won a race after his victory in the JRA Cup in September 2011 but he was very competitive in whatever he contested on home soil.
“I’m glad Dream Pedlar has been retired on a good note because many top horses aren’t afforded that luxury,” Blacker said.
“He goes into retirement having been placed in a Group race at his last run and that is a fitting end to his racing career,” Blacker said.
Dream Pedlar raced 57 times for nine wins and 19 minor placings for $721,646 for a winning strike rate of 16% and a 33% placed strike rate.
He finished his career with an average stake of $12,660 every time he faced the starter.
Blacker said Dream Pedlar will spend the rest of his life at his birthplace, Armidale Stud, where he will play a grandfather role to the youngsters.
“Pedlar can now spend the rest of his days giving youngsters a few pointers on how to be a courageous racehorse,” Blacker said.