England's Haunted Dream surges to Singspiel triumph

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The favored England raider Haunted Dream made quite a splash in his North American debut Saturday at Woodbine, winning the Grade 3 Singspiel in course-record time under a textbook ride from Rafael Hernandez.

In his first race with Lasix, Haunted Dream stalked the pace along the rail in the three-turn inner-turf event before Hernandez angled him four-wide for the drive. He kicked in strongly and made the lead inside the eighth en route to a 1 1/2-length score, in a time of 2:15.40, which was .09 quicker than the previous 1 3/8-mile record.

Tosen Wish rallied between rivals to secure second by a half-length over Dancin in Da’nile. Venencia came from a trailing sixth for fourth and was followed by pacesetters Roscar and Legal Catch.

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Assistant trainer Thomas Allen, who saddled Haunted Dream for trainer H.A. Al Jehani, said the Oasis Dream gelding didn’t have the smoothest of trips when 16th and third in his two previous outings in England.

“His last two starts - he got stuck on the rail at Royal Ascot, and then at Haydock,” Allen called. “He’s had a bit of bad luck, but he’s been a super horse for us. He won at the Glorious Goodwood festival for us last year. We made a plan to travel and bring him here. It’s been a fantastic experience for all of us. Rafael gave him a very uncomplicated ride.”

Haunted Dreams ($4.80) banked $90,000 of the $153,900 purse for Wathnan Racing.

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