Nicole's Dream team confident of major Cathay Pacific HK Sprint showing

3 December 2005

For limited representation, runners from the United States have a pretty good record in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint: Big Jag finished third in 1999 and Morluc went one better in its next two renewals.

This year 'Team USA' might just have its best ever chance of carrying away the world's richest 1000m turf sprint prize in form of the five year old mare Nicole's Dream.

She hails from the Illinois barn of Larry Rivelli who has trained her since 2003 and is by far and away the best horse he has had in his training career. In fact Nicole's Dream could well be the best turf sprint filly that American racing has ever produced.

"She's a freak", laughs Rivelli," Her breeding is nothing, you would never have heard of her sire or dam; she's massive but very correct".

As with most great horses, she found him rather than Rivelli finding her.

"I had three stables free in my barn and a small trainer with just three horses filled the gap. I noticed the filly but at the time she was running in US$7,500 claimers and they wouldn't sell her. O.Lodano was the guy, he didn't want to let her go and straight after we offered she won a stakes race on the turf, we offered more and got her, everyone thought we were mad, " he recalls.

'Everyone' must have changed their tune quite quickly as Nicole's Dream duly went and won her first six starts for the Dare to Dream Syndicate and Rivelli.

"She is a totally different horse on the turf to the dirt, she just doesn't travel over the dirt. She enjoyed the extra love and attention that she got in our barn."

The mare has become a revelation, so much so that when she is entered in a race most others scratch. She has now won 20 of her 42 starts, 16 of those on the turf.

"She has got a real following now. She is real quick and holds the track record at Mountaineer Park, Tampa and Arlington Park, the fastest time she's ever clocked is 55.2, that was round a turn in West Virginia. She has mainly raced against her own sex but three times she has taken on colts and won all three. I think what makes her so good is her demeanour. She walks around the paddock like a pony, with her head on the floor! Physically she is an iron horse, very sound, I could run her and run her," Rivelli says.

The soundness of Nicole's Dream was one of the principal factors that prompted her connections to look to Hong Kong.

"She's so tough I hardly have her on any medication. In the States everyone has most horses on various medications mainly because they can within the rules but that stops many American horses from travelling to race internationally, she doesn't need anything to help her soundness so will cope well with Hong Kong's zero tolerance as we have had to change nothing."

The Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint's massive purse is obviously another big draw for the Nicole's Dream team.

"She has won every big sprint turf prize in the US, and the biggest is the Mamzelle (Listed) for US$120,000 and she won that back to back. I have always thought that the one race our Breeders' Cup meeting is lacking is a turf sprint, so the Hong Kong race is the one to win. It is the Sprint Turf Championship and our only opportunity to race for a purse of this size."

Rivelli has never travelled to Hong Kong before but is trying to prepare himself and his horse as best he can for the experience.

"I'm expecting much better competition than over there. I've heard Silent Witness is awesome, so it has to be good for us that he may be out. I've watched tapes of the course and of the other horses, it looks amazing, I can't wait for the experience. At the end of the day she has shipped perfectly, not turned a hair or left an oat. She will jump very fast from the gate, take the lead and hopefully stay there, it's the only way she knows, and now is not the time to change things".

"My family has been in racing for seventy five years, my grandpa trained for film stars such as Betty Grable in California and my uncle trained for thirty five years, both of them achieved a lot in the sport but neither of them got an opportunity like this. I really believe in my mare will be in the first three, if she wins it will be the highlight of my career, it's a privilege to be a part of it and representing the USA."