Dream Ahead is retired to stud, as Buick leads praise

Buick said the David Simcock-trained sprinter, who now misses next month’s Breeders’ Cup meeting in America, was comparable to Arctic Cosmos and Masked Marvel – the two horses that he has piloted to St Leger glory at Doncaster.

After narrowly beating |Mick Easterby’s Hoof It, amongst others, in a controversial Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock, Dream Ahead’s finest hour came at Longchamp earlier this month when the three-year-old collared the iconic Goldikova on the line to land the Prix de la Foret.

“He’s a fantastic horse. Probably as talented as any horse I’ve ridden in my career so far,” said Buick. “He has so much speed. That’s his forte and he could kill off any race in a matter of strides when he was on his game.

“I’d say on his day, he could beat anything put in front of him and he showed what a good horse he is when beating Goldikova in France last time. Frankel aside, she (Goldikova) is arguably the best miler in the world.”

Buick rode Dream Ahead, who could idle when in front, in eight of his nine races – the only time he was absent from the saddle was when the horse provided Hayley Turner with a long overdue first Group One triumph in Newmarket’s Darley July Cup.

Owned by Khalifa Dasmal, a share in the son of Diktat was recently sold to Ballylinch Stud, whose managing director John O’Connor said: “His defeat of Goldikova was a lovely note to end on. He has done everything that could have been asked of him, and there was no need to race again.”

Many racing experts were surprised when Dream Ahead finished his juvenile campaign last autumn as the joint top-rated juvenile in Europe in company with Frankel. However the aforementioned Simcock says this status was deserved, even though Frankel did prevail when the two horses did finally clash at Royal Ascot this June.

“He is the soundest and most straightforward horse you could wish to find and I will be lucky if I can find another horse like him,” added the trainer.

“His performance in the Middle Park at Newmarket a year ago was outstanding, when he beat good horses like Strong Suit and Approve by an easy nine lengths. He is a great looking horse and I am sure he will be very successful at stud.”