Posted NOVEMBER 16, 2011.
Cartier Award confirmed for Dream Ahead
It's official… Emirates Park's recent purchase Dream Ahead (USA) is the Cartier Sprinter of the year for season 2011.
A long-time leader in the category following three individual Group 1 victories for the season, Dream Ahead was this week confirmed as the winner of the 2011 Cartier Sprinter Award by virtue of his hat-trick of wins at European racing's highest level.
In addition to claiming the 2011 Cartier Sprinter Award, Dream Ahead was also among a stellar group of horses in the Cartier 3YO Colt category won by Frankel, the Cartier Horse of the Year.
On receiving the news of Dream Ahead's achievements, Emirates Park CEO Trevor Lobb said: "The Cartier Awards are the highest recognition a racehorse can get in Europe. It's the equivalent of the Australasian Horse of the Year ceremony or the Eclipse Awards in the United States.
"Winning the Sprinter Award, and finishing in close contention in the 3YO category to a horse [Frankel] the like of which has not been seen in more than 50 years, further establishes Dream Ahead as one of the finest racehorses ever to head to Australia for stud duties."
Lobb added: "Any normal year, Dream Ahead would have possibly landed in Australia for the 2012 breeding season with not one but two of the most coveted Cartier Awards any horse can win. At least by taking out the Sprinters title there can be no doubt that Dream Ahead boasts the perfect profile for the Australian breeding industry."
In winning the Cartier Sprinter Award, Dream Ahead joins an illustrious group of short-course specialists that further enhanced their worldwide reputation by proving to be prodigious stud successes. The likes of Anabaa (1996), Royal Applause (1997), Stravinsky (1999) and Oasis Dream (2003) can all be found on the honour board of the coveted title first founded in 1991.
Anabaa and Stravinsky are among the finest stallions ever to be used on a dual hemisphere basis, this brace of sires having excelled on the rosters of Widden Stud and Cambridge Stud respectively.
Royal Applause not only proved to be one of Britain's most popular stallions of his time, but also sired current European stud sensation Acclamation.
Likewise, Oasis Dream has long since proven himself to be one of the world's most fashionable sires after earning the Cartier Sprinter Award in 2003. |
