Keith has a Dream initiation to racing
RETIRED limousine driver Keith Smith waited 66 years to buy his first horse but he has found a good one in Ivy’s Dream.
Smith was at Aquis Park to watch the three-year-old filly win the Fillies and Mares Maiden Handicap (1300m) on Saturday in what was the horse’s second race since Smith bought shares in her.
“It’s the old story of being in the right place at the right time,” Smith said.
“I’m brand new to this. It’s all a bit exciting for me. I’m not a horse person but this is great.”
The 66-year-old Miami resident spent 19 years driving a limousine for Gold Coast-based Jupiters casino, now called The Star, before retiring 10 years ago.
Smith’s good friend Les Kelly Jr, the son of prominent Gold Coast trainer Les Kelly, found Ivy’s Dream and the duo bought the filly for $10,000 at the end of April after it was passed in at an online auction.
They gave her to Gold Coast trainer John Wallace to prepare and she made her debut with a ninth at Murwillumbah on June 3.
The duo have already recouped their outlay thanks mainly to the win of Ivy’s Dream ($3.40 fav) on Saturday.
“We have more than got our money back,” said Kelly Jr, a former foreman at his father’s stable.
“This is a really good horse but it had feet problems when it arrived here.
“She had a heap of stone bruises but our farrier has corrected it all. Ever since we got her ground horse.”
Wallace said the decision to put a barrier blanket on to settle Ivy’s Dream at the start had paid off and he would now look to take her through her grades.
“We took her to Murwillumbah but she blew the start.
“I put the barrier blanket on her in a trial and I thought she went better so we did it for (Saturday) too,” he said.
“She is just a restless thing in the barriers and her back legs went out from underneath her at Murwillumbah.” feet she back is a on the different