Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Surgery last October to cure a nagging throat ailment has enabled Dreambigaimhigh to return to form, and the New South Wales-bred trotter to win twice in the space of five days last week.
Prepared by Wundowie trainer Bruce Stanley and driven by Ryan Warwick, Dreambigaimhigh was an $8.50 chance when he finished strongly to beat Elegant Peak at Gloucester Park last Monday, and he was a $6.40 chance when he scored an impressive victory over Dark Secret ($26) and Elegant Peak ($5) in the $21,000 Rotary International Handicap at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Dreambigaimhigh underwent throat surgery after he broke in running and finished a distant sixth in a race at Pinjarra last December. He was out of action and has performed well in his seven starts in his current campaign.
He was smartest to begin from barrier two on the front line in Friday’ night’s 2503m standing-start event before Warwick surrendered the lead to Elegant Peak after 450m. Dreambigaimhigh travelled strongly before surging to the front 300m from home.
“I was happy to surrender the lead because until we get a bit of confidence in him, we have to,” said Warwick. “He did a lot of things wrong before Bruce found out that he had a breathing problem.”
Stanley purchased Dreambigaimhigh late in 2023, and the five-year-old has had 27 starts in WA for three wins and eleven placings, taking his career earnings to $106,410 from six wins and 21 placings from 52 starts. He won at three of his 22 NSW appearances and managed one third placing from three starts in Victoria before heading west.
He showed early promise, and he set the pace when he won the $50,000 Group 1 Trot NSW final for two-year-olds at Menangle in July 2022.