Hall of Fame - Distant Dream

Original article written by Nathan Klein posted 3 years 2 weeks ago

It was near the end of year 40 Tamara decided to put a mare and a sire together. The sire was the mighty Frankel but the dam was Distant Majesty, a maiden on the racetrack but with tons of breeding potential. The two would produce a once in a lifetime horse named Distant Dream. He was a nice sleek dark bay colt with a long white blaze down his face. Even in his first race he already showed amazing talent winning by 8 1/2 lengths. Throughout his 2 and 3-year-old years he would race a total of 10 times and win 8. This included a win in the Steward's Cup Juvenile Turf and the English 2,000 Guineas. He only tasted defeat in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and that Steward's Cup Turf Mile at age 3. It would seem he would be able to mature into a 4-year-old and dominate the turf milers again. But his world would be flipped when Memento Mori got into the picture. Memento Mori was a beautiful white mare who had been dominating the best turf miler fillies for 2 years just like Distant Dream had been doing with male turf milers. Memento Mori would make the switch to racing against boys at the age of four and prove to be a real challenge for Distant Dream. Although he could get close, Memento Mori simply had the edge on Distant Dream. Concluding with a second defeat in the Steward's Cup Turf mile to Memento Mori by just 3/4 of a length. Now the dream wasn't so distant but it was painfully close yet also so far.

But a new year comes a new horse and Distant Dream was ready to try again. A new race had come up with tons of money and a new opportunity. It was the Pegasus Turf Mile, a race worth $5,500,000 more than any other turf race at the time. Memento Mori would make her first start that year in that race but so would Distant Dream. Distant Dream wanted to be the top horse and to be the best he would have to beat the best, and the best was Memento Mori. Although he took himself midpack early and was sixth when they hit the final turn, all the times he had lost to Memento Mori had made him only want to win twice as much. In the stretch he surged past late, game to win by a length and a half. But in their next meeting Memento Mori retaliated with a repeat win in the Dubai Millenium Mile yet again defeating Distant Dream by a neck. But after these two battles, they would hold off on facing each other again until the Steward's Cup Turf Mile. In that time Distant Dream kept getting stronger as he swept three straight Grade 1 races.

The two would meet for the sixth and final time and this time Distant Dream was not gonna take no for an answer. It was his third time trying to win the Steward's Cup Turf Mile and his last chance to get the one race that he had left to win. At the start, he would stay mid-pack in fifth place. While Memento Mori would go to second place letting Dandy Lion set the pace early. But soon Memento Mori made a risky decision, making a move before the final turn to get closer to Dandy Lion. With a good three lengths made up, Memento Mori was now near Dandy Lion before taking over the lead in the home turn. But Memento Mori had used up some of her energy to catch Dandy Lion and Distant Dream had saved ground the whole way. In the stretch, Distant Dream fired on all cylinders picking up speed on the rail soon catching up to Memento Mori. The two fought it out, Distant Dream on the rail Memento Mori on the outside. It was a real battle between two older warriors.

But Distant Dream wasn't gonna let his last chance to win the Steward's Cup Turf Mile be in vain. On the rail, he stretched his legs, all the saved energy he had over the first 3/4 of a mile was going to be used right then and there. Stride for stride the wire got closer but Distant Dream got faster. His will was unwavering, the dream was not so distant anymore it was in his grasp. So he grabbed it. He pushed his head forward gaining a slim lead in the final strides. His brown head and blaze were the only thing that were separating him from Memento Mori. His dream was now achieved. Afterword he was retired to stud where he and Memento Mori would end their rivalry and instead combine to produce stakes winning foals. Distant Dreams parents would breed together another 9 times in hopes of producing another Distant Dream. But what they learned was that some horses you can simply never replicate even if you do everything the exact same way. None of his 9 full siblings ever won a stakes race, the highest earner would only earn $63,250. Distant Dream earned just over 7 million on the race track and to this day is the richest turf miler of all time. In short great horses only come around once and the idea of replicating them is simply a distant dream.

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