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By Brad Gray
At Rosehill Gardens

Brenton Avdulla is smitten with Winter Stakes-winner Dreamforce.

“He is getting up there to be one of my favourite horses to be honest,” Avdulla said.

“I haven’t ridden him many times but every time I have he has tried his guts out and put his best foot forward so that’s all you can ask. He has done it now from three outside gates.

Dreamforce taking out the $150,000 Rosehill feature

“They made me work and he over raced early but once he was able to get that furlong of a breather I knew it was going to take a good one to beat him.”

That breather was between the 800m and the 600m with Punters Intel revealing he clocked 12.10s, before cranking it up to slip home his last 600m in 34.65s.

“I’ve got no doubt that if he drew a gate you could position him up behind the speed and he’d be just as good if not better. He is in a really good frame of mind. He is a talented horse and I’m not saying he is a Group One horse but every time the bar gets raised he keeps going with it.”

It was a deserving first stakes win for the airborne five-year-old, having been run down in the shadows of the post by Liapari in the Civic Stakes.

Dreamforce and Avdulla have formed a formidable combination (Pic: Steve Hart)

Relieved trainer John Thompson, who admitted to going the dreaded early crow the start prior, will now freshen Dreamforce with an eye on the Melbourne spring.

“He was left a sitting shot late but he just keeps trying. I think he’ll go a bit higher again. There are some nice handicaps in the spring and we’ll get him into those with a low weight,” said Thompson.

“I was thinking races like the Toorak, Emirates and I’ve had a bit of luck with the Railway (in Perth).”

After cooing that Dreamforce is “the perfect horse to train”, Thompson said, although his early speed is one of his best assets, it doesn’t really matter where the Fastnet Rock gelding settles in the run.

“You saw first up he came from last. He begins so well, that’s the thing. Brenton has gone confidence in him now and he didn’t rip across, he just came across in his own time and that’s probably what won him the race today,” said Thompson.

His stablemate Special Missile was brave to run third, behind Invinzabeel, and will be sighted next in the Winter Challenge (1500m) in a fortnight.

Meanwhile, the Peter Lock-trained Kiwi raider Hiflyer measured up to run fourth with jockey Johnathan Parkes suggesting the mile is what the five-year-old wants now.

“Drawn one today I got stuck on the fence and the track is a bit chopped out so his run was quite good I thought,” Parkes said.

Check out all the results and replays for Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.