Williams waiting on Classic call for Desert Dreamer

Simon Milham
January 20, 2022 11:57 am

Direct route to the 1000 Guineas a possibility.

Desert Dreamer could head straight to the Qipco 1000 Guineas without a prep run, trainer Stuart Williams has revealed.

The daughter of Oasis Dream was placed four times in Group company last season, including when beaten a length in the Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte at Chantilly.

She signed off a busy campaign, which included two wins, with the final of four runner-up efforts, chasing home Symphony Perfect in the Listed Bosra Sham Fillies’ Stakes at Newmarket in October.

Desert Dreamer – improving at a rate of knots
🏇 Two races🥇 Two wins🚀 Exciting type for @WilliamsStuart
Desert Dreamer remains unbeaten under a nice ride at @NewmarketRace from @LeveySean

Results ➡ https://t.co/sBcsavHpYf pic.twitter.com/k8dvtMiVGE
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 13, 2021

The filly had previously given Williams his first ever juvenile winner on the Rowley Mile in a five-furlong fillies’ maiden in April and followed that with success in a six-furlong novice event.

Desert Dreamer, who carries the colours of the trainer’s late stepfather David Shekells, which are registered in the name of his mother Carol and John Parry, could start off in the fillies’ mile Classic on May 1, for which she is a 33-1 shot with Paddy Power.

Williams said: “I haven’t 100 per cent decided where she will start yet. She is in work with us now and has had a short break and she is cantering steadily.

“But if I am happy with her, it is possible we might roll the dice and go to the Guineas, but we will make that decision a bit later on when we have to.

“I think, if we go that route, we probably won’t have a prep run. She is in very good form and I’m very happy with her.

“If we went down the Guineas route, we will see what happens after that, but if we decided at some stage it wasn’t the plan, I think we’d aim for the Commonwealth Cup at Ascot, or something like that.”

Williams, who got off the mark for the season with a double at Chelmsford on Saturday, courtesy of Shanko landing a five-furlong novice and Existent taking a handicap over the same trip, is looking to kick on after several near misses.

Stuart Williams was happy to get the ball rolling with a double at Chelmsford (Simon Cooper/PA)

“We had eight seconds since the turn of the year, so it was good to see a couple get their noses in front,” added the master of Newmarket’s Diomed Stables.

“The handicapper has have given Shanko a mark of 82. We will go down the handicap route with him and we won’t be rushing him back to the track. I’m sure he will go on the turf later on in the season.”

Thanks to the exploits of stable start Desert Dreamer, the yard is brimming with young horses this term.

Williams said: “We have a nice team. This time last year, we had literally three two-year-olds, whereas this year, we are going to have well into the teens, probably the late teens.

“It is quite exciting to have a team of young horses. You don’t know what they are going to become.

“Obviously we liked them at the sales and one or two people have sent me a couple of horses, hopefully on the back of what Desert Dreamer did last year. It is probably the most two-year-olds I’ve ever had to start a season with.

“When you are a stable our size, people know we can win the bread-and-butter everyday races and have a decent handicapper now and then, but it is nice to have a Group horse in the yard and we have been lucky enough in the past three years to have had a couple.”