Another Country Cup for Williamson

Bruce Stewart Journalist

Dreams Are Free (Captaintreacherous) rewarded his owners Brendan Fahy and the Dreams Are Free Syndicate when he powered home to win the $40,000 Regent Car Court Southern Country Cups Final at Invercargill today.

“It’s a big thrill just for the owners. The staff have put in a lot of hard work just to help manage him. It hasn’t been the smoothest road but we’ve found that what we’re doing with him is working,” trainer Nathan Williamson said.

Today’s highest assessed pace was certainly a great spectacle with plenty of action.

“There was a lot of pressure in that race today. They were going from the outset and a lot of them were on their hands and knees at the 600. It was a hard ask with what he had to do because he lost all his momentum. Matty (Always Dreaming) was flat and he was coming right back on me when I was trying to get to the lane. He doesn’t particularly like the lane – he wants to lay out, so he got a wee bit awkward. It won’t look like it side on, but if you had an overshot I was probably giving Bar Louie two lengths at the top of the straight. He and Wag Star had kicked right away but to my horse’s credit he kept trying.”

Dream Are Free got there by a neck from Bar Louie with Wag Star one and three quarters of a length back in third.

“I wasn’t sure whether I got there, but I was coming two to one. I thought I’d won on the line but I’ve been beaten by a pencil line before so I wasn’t going to say I’d won it.”

The win was Willimson’s fourth as a driver in the staying feature. His other winners have been Here Comes Soky, Costa Del Magnifico and Pembrook Playboy.