Gulfstream: Dream Pauline Game in Sugar Swirl (G3) Victory

By David Joseph —-

Dream Pauline; Lauren King
Dream Pauline Game in Sugar Swirl (G3) Victory

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Stonestreet Stables LLC’s Dream Pauline, trained by Kiaran McLaughlin and ridden by Javier Castellano, gamely held off stretch rally by Stormy Embrace to win the $100,000 Sugar Swirl (G3) Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

A lightly-raced 3-year-old filly by Tapit, Dream Pauline covered the six furlongs in 1:11.10.

A winner of the Dream Supreme Stakes at Churchill Downs Nov. 4 after winning an allowance race at Saratoga over the summer, Dream Pauline was rated second by Castellano behind Surprise Wedding, who went the opening quarter in :22.73 and the half in :46.26. After taking the lead entering the stretch, Dream Pauline held off Stormy Embrace, winner earlier this year of the Princess Rooney (G2) at Gulfstream.

Dream Pauline returned $5.40.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin (Dream Pauline): “It was great that she broke well from the outside and Javier let [Pacific Gale] clear us and then just sat there, beautiful trip. He said she started looking around a little bit late, waiting, but when the horse came to her she dug back in. It’s such an important win for this filly with her pedigree and the connections, to win for Barbara [Banke] and Stonestreet, so it was a huge win

“We scratched last week in New York. She drew the one-hole there and it just wasn’t an ideal situation, so everybody decided to just come here and it worked out great. We don’t even train much on a track like this so we didn’t know how she would handle it, but she went well.

“We decided to give her a little time off, little issues but she’s just been a little bit unlucky not to run a little more often. She got sick right before the Prioress and she’s been lucky but today we were lucky and it paid us back.

“She’s very lightly raced. Hopefully she’ll be back on Jan. 26 in the [$150,000] Hurricane Bertie.

Jockey Javier Castellano (Dream Pauline): “I like the way she did it today. You don’t know when it rains like this and how they’ll respond to the track, but she did it really well today. She broke sharp out of the gate and put me in a good spot all the way in the race. I was able to control the race and I liked the way she finished. She looked around a little bit in the last sixteenth pole, but she was engaged when she saw the other horses outside and I think it was a great performance today.”