West hoping Live In The Dream can show Temple zoom

Big sprint at Haydock shaping up to be a good one on Saturday.

Adam West is confident his stable star Live In The Dream will prove “a force to be reckoned with” in the Betfred Temple Stakes at Haydock on Saturday.

The four-year-old won sprint handicaps at Sandown and Chester last season and kicked off 2023 with an all-weather victory at Lingfield before following up on soft ground at Pontefract.

Those successive triumphs earned him a step up to Group Three level in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket three weeks ago and he made much of the running before being mowed down late by Vadream.

West acknowledges his charge has plenty on his plate on Merseyside this weekend, with returning stars The Platinum Queen and Dramatised among his likely rivals, but the Epsom-based trainer is hopeful he can make race fitness count and secure Group Two honours.

“I’ve just watched him do his last blow and we’re very happy with him,” said West.

“He has a lot of things in his favour and a couple of the horses in front of him (in the betting) have yet to have a run (this season). As much as these trainers can ready them, they’re serious horses and won’t be going undercooked, having a run in a sprint is a big advantage.

“If we get a nice draw we’ll be a force to be reckoned with, I think.”

Live In The Dream has not run on ground quicker than good since his Sandown success of last spring, but West views the switch to a faster surface as a positive rather than a negative.

Live In The Dream (left) chases home Vadream in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket
Live In The Dream (left) chases home Vadream in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket (Nigel French/PA)

He added: “He should be a little bit better on better ground. The soft ground has done his confidence good as he’s been able to dominate and is going in there really happy, but now we’ve actually got a surface that lets him utilise his speed a little bit more it can only be a good thing.”

West has not entered Live In The Dream for Royal Ascot next month and is not planning to supplement no matter how he fares this weekend.

“We made the decision before the Palace House that we weren’t going to Ascot,” said West.

“You get tempted when you’ve got a good horse that’s in-form to enter in everything and try to do everything, but we’re trying to keep a clear path and the stiffer five (furlongs) would be going away from what he’s good at.”

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