ELMONT, N.Y. – Three-time stakes-winner Dream Bigger will breeze Monday before it’s decided where he will run next, trainer Rudy Rodriguez said Sunday morning.
Owned by Repole Stable, Dream Bigger ran twice during the summer meet at Saratoga, including a runner-up effort to Captain Bombastic in the New York Stallion Stakes Series Times Square last out on August 28. Rodriguez said the 3-year-old Mission Impazible colt exited that effort with a minor issue, but a good breeze could set him up for a spot on Empire Showcase Day on Saturday, October 24 at Belmont.
“I’m going to breeze him tomorrow and see how it goes and take it from there,” Rodriguez said. “He came back and it looked like his foot was bothering him a little bit, but we’ve got it under control.”
The Empire Showcase Day, featuring eight stakes races for New York breds, could set up Dream Bigger for a spot in the $125,000 Hudson; a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up.
As a juvenile, Dream Bigger won the New York Breeders’ Futurity at Finger Lakes last September and the Notebook in November at Aqueduct Racetrack. He started his sophomore campaign with a third-place effort in the Rego Park in January at the Big A before a 7 3/4-length win in the Damon Runyon at the same track in March.
Following two off-the-board efforts, he again finished on the board in the Times Square, posting a 77 Beyer.
“The [Hudson] might be coming up pretty tough,” Rodriguez said. “I’ll talk to Mike [Repole] and see where we’ll go. It seems like a pretty salty field.”
St. George Stable’s Letruska is trained by Fausto Gutierrez but has been stabled with Rodriguez as she trains up to the Grade 2, $150,000 Beldame for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up on October 4 at Belmont.
The front-running winner of the Grade 3 Shuvee on August 30 at Saratoga recorded her second work at Belmont since that victory, breezing five furlongs in 59.60 on Friday over the main track.
Other possible contender for the Beldame, going 1 1/8 miles, are Dunbar Road (trained by Chad Brown), Horologist (Bill Mott), Nonna Madeline (Todd Pletcher) and Point of Honor (George Weaver).
“She breezed a couple of days ago and breezed very, very good,” Rodriguez said. “She’s been great. She’s been here 10 days and I breezed her the time before, too, and she’s been very good. She’s doing everything right. But she’s going to have to step up, because that race is coming up very deep.”
Letruska, who notched Group 1 victories in Mexico when taking last year’s Clasico Esmeralda and Clasico Diamente at Hipodromo De Las Americas, has won 4-of-7 starts since arriving in North America in December 2019.
Press Release
Photo: Dream Bigger wins the 2019 Notebook. Credit: NYRA/Chelsea Durand
