follow us onAiken-trained Dream Shake set to run in Kentucky Derby prep race in California
Cary Frommer trained Dream Shake, who is entered in the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita Park in California on Saturday, while the colt was in Aiken.
A colt that spent time at the Aiken Training Track is entered in a major prep race for the Kentucky Derby.
Dream Shake will break from the No. 2 post position Saturday in the $750,000 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita Park in California.
Flavien Prat will be his rider.
Based on Dream Shake’s 7-2 morning line odds, he is the second betting choice in the field of 10 3-year-old thoroughbreds.
The favorite, at 5-2, for the 1⅛-mile race is Medina Spirit.
That colt finished second in the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe Stakes on March 6 at Santa Anita.
Life Is Good, the winner, beat Medina Spirit by eight lengths.
Bob Baffert, a member of thoroughbred racing’s Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York, trains both Life Is Good and Medina Spirit.
An ankle injury discovered after a March 20 workout sidelined Life Is Good, who recently underwent surgery.
Dream Shake was third in the San Felipe, finishing 2¼ lengths behind Medina Spirit.
As a 20-1 longshot in his career debut, Dream Shake cruised to victory on Feb. 7 at Santa Anita.
He won the 6 ½-furlong race by 4¾–lengths.
Cary Frommer was Dream Shake’s trainer when he was at the Aiken Training Track.
He arrived there after Foxpointe Thoroughbreds purchased him for $32,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September yearling sale in Kentucky.
At first, Dream Shake didn’t impress Frommer.
“He was very big and ‘growthy’ and awkward,” she said. “He was not attractive.”
But her opinion of the colt changed when Dream Shake breezed for the first time, which means he galloped at a much faster than usual pace for a short distance.
“He was a lovely mover,” Frommer said. “He just skimmed across the ground.”
That was early in 2020.
Not long afterward, Dream Shake’s physical appearance started to improve.
“He actually turned into quite a handsome boy,” Frommer said. “He changed from an ugly duckling into a swan.”
Frommer is known in the thoroughbred business as a pinhooker who buys and then resells young horses at public auctions.
But she didn’t have an ownership interest in Dream Shake.
The colt was offered in Frommer’s consignment in June of last year at an Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. sale of 2-year-olds in training in Florida.
Marette Farrell purchased him for $75,000 for Exline-Border Racing.
Prior to the auction, Dream Shake worked an eighth of a mile in 10⅕ seconds.
A minor physical flaw, which could be seen on X-rays, prevented the colt from bringing more money, Frommer believes.
Courtesy of the Aiken Standard
Exline-Border Racing, SAF Racing and Richard Hausman currently are Dream Shake’s owners.
He is trained now by Peter Eurton.
The colt’s sire (father) is Twirling Candy.
NBC Sports will televise the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday as part of its “Road to Kentucky Derby” series during a two-hour program that will begin at 5:30 p.m. on NBCSN.
The 147th Kentucky Derby will be held May 1 at Churchill Downs.
