Dream Pedlar is the 2011 JRA Cup winner

It might be a dream too far but for trainer Troy Blacker the 2011 Caulfield Cup is a race he’s refusing to give up on.

His hopes on an unlikely Caulfield Cup birth were given a huge boost tonight at Moonee Valley when Dream Pedlar rallied to win the JRA Cup 2011.

The horse looked gone when hard ridden before the turn but jockey Craig Newitt found away to get back on him to force his way through off the turn and get home by a convincing margin.

The question that remains though is if that race itself was convincing with a flurry of late scratchings robbing the event of any genuine class.

Still though it counts as a Group 3 victory and there’s no doubt Blacker will take it.

“Pretty happy with the way he’s come over and he’s improved with every run,” he said.

He said he had no concerns despite the horse looking under pressure with 450 still to run.

“He always goes through a bit of a flat and you just need to get him wound up and he’ll lit the line hard,” he said.

There’s certainly no lack of ambition as to where he goes from here, he’s nominated for the Caulfield Cup and that’s where they want to be.

“We nominated for the Caulfield Cup at this stage, whether or not we get it we don’t know,” he said.

“Wouldn’t mind having a runner in a $2.5 million race.”

Should that not eventuate it’d be back to the country circuit and a defence of a 2010 title.

“We won the Bendigo Cup last year, it’s still on the radar we might go back again this year,” he said.

Plenty of the credit for tonight’s win has to go to the aggressive riding style of Newitt and he’d be the key should he run in a race like the Caulfield Cup.

No doubt he’d like to have a shot but Dream Pedlar would need to show a bit more to have him convinced.

“I think in a genuine run fast run 2400m he’d be very strong late, whether or not he’s got the class though I don’t know,” he said.

JRA Cup 2011 Winner & Results