Dream Dancing Nabs Herecomesthebride at Wire

John C. Oxley's homebred Dream Dancing put a neck in front of favorite Coasted at the wire in the $100,000 Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park March 4. 

The daughter of Tapit   eventually found running room in late stretch of the 1 1/16 mile test over firm turf after some maneuvering by jockey Julien Leparoux. 

"We had a good trip. I was right behind Coasted so I was very happy," Leparoux said. "At the quarter pole I thought she would take off a little bit, and I got stuck a little bit behind, but I got through inside of (Coasted) and she finished good and galloped out very good. She's a nice filly and she's been doing very good lately. We're happy."

Longshot Conquest Hardcandy led the field of seven 3-year-old fillies early with Sweeping Paddy following a length behind in second. Coasted hopped at the start and settled just ahead of Dream Dancing toward the back of the pack while Conquest Hardcandy set fractions of :23.43, :47.78, and 1:11.53 through six furlongs. 

Around the second turn, Coasted and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. went three wide around the weakening front runners. Coasted gained a narrow advantage running down the middle of the stretch as Dream Dancing was directly behind her, trying to find room. After shifting his mount over toward the rail, Leparoux urged Dream Dancing to go by Coasted in the final strides—and at the wire, it was Dream Dancing by a neck in a final time of 1:40.78. 

"It cost her some momentum (coming on the inside)," trainer Mark Casse said. "She has turned out to be a pretty good horse. I think the further (distance) the better. She's a beautiful filly—the Oxleys bred her. We're very proud of her."

Party Boat finished another three-quarters of a length back in third. Happy Mesa, India Mantuana, Sweeping Paddy, and Conquest Hardcandy rounded out the order of finish. 

Sent off as the second choice, Dream Dancing returned $5.60, $2.60, and $2.20 across the board. Coasted, the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) runner-up, was worth $2.60 and $2.20. Party Boat paid $2.80.

The win was the first graded score for Dream Dancing and the second consecutive Herecomesthebride win for Casse, who took last year's edition with Canadian champion Catch a Glimpse. 

The gray or roan Tapit filly entered Saturday's race off a two-length score in a Jan. 28 allowance race at Gulfstream over 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Before that, she failed to place in three graded stakes attempts, all on dirt. She now has a record of three wins and one second from seven starts with $180,760 in earnings. 

Bred in Kentucky, Dream Dancing is out of the unraced Monarchos mare To Dream About, another Oxley homebred, who is out of 1999 champion older mare Beautiful Pleasure.