“We got the Golden Ticket,” Steve de’Lemos, who owns the aptly named Live In The Dream with his wife, Jolene, said here on Monday, as he looked beyond the palm trees in the Santa Anita infield towards the San Gabriel mountains that loom over the track. “I feel like Charlie Bucket at the Wonka Factory and we’re going to sample every bit of candy that Santa Anita has got to offer. Look at it. It’s just incredible.”
It is a typical response to a first experience of Santa Anita, a racecourse which has few, if any, equals in terms of its setting and has been leaving people wide-eyed for nearly a century. The de’Lemos’s, though, are anything but typical racehorse owners, and the story of their journey to the Breeders’ Cup meeting here on Saturday – completed in economy class on Saturday – is a welcome reminder that even at this most glamourous of events, there is always a chance for a Charlie Bucket to beat the odds.
Live In The Dream is only here thanks to his front-running 28-1 victory in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York in August, which came with a “Win-And-You’re-In” guarantee of a place in the field for the Turf Sprint this weekend, the eighth of the nine Breeders’ Cup races on the main Saturday card. Even then, the $70k package did not leave much room for manoeuvre.
“You think, that will get us there and back, but it’s 30 grand entry, then the other forty got us out here, through the customs and paperwork,” de’Lemos says. “And then they said, it’s going to cost between 25 and 35 grand to bring him home, so it’s just as well that we won what we did [at York].”
Lingfield Park 12.30 Intricate Pillar 1.00 Majed 1.30 Irrelevant (nb) 2.05 Placo 2.38 Change Sings (nap) 3.08 Angle Land 3.38 Nivelle’s Magic 4.08 Hazel Bear
Fakenham 1.40 Wise Guy 2.15 Majestic Jameela 2.45 Regarde 3.15 Luna Dora 3.45 Aviles 4.15 Pretending
Kempton Park 4.05 Darysina Gold 4.40 Loaded Quiver 5.15 Imperial Express 5.45 Topanga 6.15 Zero Carbon 6.45 Buccabay 7.15 Typical Woman 7.45 Laura’s Breeze 8.15 Peachey Carnehan
Once the Nunthorpe was in the book, however, there was never any doubt that Live In The Dream would be running in California in early November. Again, there are hints of a scarcely-credible storyline unfolding around a gelding that cost a bargain-basement £24,000 as a juvenile, as he is ideally suited to a sharp five furlongs on a turning track and they do not come much sharper or faster than Santa Anita.
Ryan Moore suggested as much after riding Live In The Dream to win at Chester in May 2022. “Ryan said, ‘keep him to his strengths’,” de’Lemos recalls. “There’s nothing like this [in Britain] but it was how can we get out here, as it’s so expensive.”
The Nunthorpe sorted that problem, and Live In The Dream looked thoroughly at home on the track as he breezed around the turf course on Monday morning. As well as Steve and Jolene, their children Rhys and Amy were also in attendance, along with Jolene’s mother and father.
“We’ve made it a family occasion and there’s others coming out later in the week,” de’Lemos said.
“All you ever want as an owner is no what ifs. If he pings the stalls and fires in a 20.4sec first sectional [two furlongs], what will be, will be. If we come sixth and get beaten by five better horses, we’ve done brilliantly to be here.”
Live In The Dream is one of around 30 horses from European stables preparing to take on the Americans on their home turf this weekend, when $31m (£25.5m) in prize money will be up for grabs over the course of 14 races.
The key horses in the European challenge include King Of Steel, the winner of the Champion Stakes at Ascot earlier this month, who is expected to make an audacious attempt to follow up in Saturday’s Turf, while Inspiral and Warm Heart, in the Filly & Mare Turf, and Master Of The Seas and Mawj, the 1,000 Guineas winner, in the Mile, will also go to post with plenty of backers.
Friday’s card of juvenile events, meanwhile, includes plenty of European challengers in the three turf races. Big Evs, who was down the field behind Live In The Dream in the Nunthorpe but bounced back to winning form at Doncaster in September, will attempt to give Mick Appleby a first win at the meeting, while Simon and Ed Crisford field the likely favourite in the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf in Carla’s Way, the Rockfel Stakes winner.
Stratford 12.00 Drumlee Spud 12.35 Donnie Azoff 1.10 Nickle Back (nap) 1.45 Bowenspark 2.20 Bitsnbuckles 2.55 King Otis 3.30 Striking Out 4.05 La Marquise
Lingfield 12.10 By The Grace 12.45 Scamallach Liath 1.20 Kap Chidley 1.55 Go Dante 2.30 Sporting Mike 3.05 Rockstown Native 3.40 Sun Joy 4.15 Walk In The Wild
Wolverhampton 12.30 To Catch A Thief 1.05 Heartrate 1.40 Swindon 2.10 Giorgio M 2.45 Algheed 3.20 Artisan Dancer 3.55 Star Of St Louis
Newcastle 1.40 Churchella 2.15 Super Stars 2.50 Scylla 3.25 Tafsir 4.00 Staincliff 4.35 Rainbow Rain 5.10 Chumbaa 5.45 Stallone 6.15 Mark’s Choice
Chelmsford 5.00 Zachary 5.30 Edergole’s Gift 6.00 Wonder Smile 6.30 The Spotlight Kid (nb) 7.00 Got No Dollars 7.30 Masterclass 8.00 Suanni 8.30 Boasty
Aidan O’Brien, meanwhile, holds a typically strong hand throughout the two-day meeting as he looks to add to his 16 Breeders’ Cup successes to date. But there could be no more popular winner here this weekend than Live In The Dream, for the owners who still can’t quite believe that they are clutching a golden ticket.
