Coming off a victorious run in the Penn Mile Stakes (G3T), Dream On will try to make it four wins from five starts this year in the $500,000 Secretariat Stakes (G2T) at Colonial Downs Aug. 9.
Trainer Mark Casse said this race has long been a target for the 3-year-old son of Not This Time .
"Looking at the field, I think he fits in nice," Casse told BloodHorse. "He's kind of an interesting horse. He doesn't do anything real flashy, but he gets it done. And just looking at the race, I think it's a competitive race. He has a big shot."
Dream On has been at Colonial Downs for nearly a month—he last raced June 27 at Penn National Race Course—and since then has posted three bullet works at the Virginia track.
Casse hopes the extended time training at Colonial brings a home-field advantage of sorts to his runner.
"He loves to train," Casse said. "He's an eager beaver in the morning. He's a pretty good workhorse."
Dream On ended his 2-year-old season a game fifth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) and started this year with a win in an allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park. Casse said that the colt disappointed him with the effort in the Columbia Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. But since then, it's been a pair of wins (the Woodhaven Stakes and Penn Mile) that have been more indictive of Dream On's talent.
"He's always kind of trained like a good horse, and we've seen it; he's pretty versatile and thriving well," Casse said. "We've always thought he was a pretty good horse and he's shown that."
Trainer Graham Motion won last year's Secretariat with Trikari, who set the fastest time—1:34.92—since the race moved from 1 1/4 miles to one mile in 2019 (the Secretariat was not contested in 2020 or 2022). This year, Motion brings the lone non-Kentucky-bred in the field of eight, End of Romance.
The gelding by Showcasing, and out of the Street Cry mare Folk Melody, raced thrice in England before coming to the United States this year. His North American debut came in the Rushaway Stakes at Turfway Park, where the chestnut finished third. End of Romance made a late move in his second start, the Woodhaven Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, but it proved too little too late to overcome Dream On and finished a length back in fifth. He bounced back nicely, taking a June 21 allowance race at Delaware Park.
Just a length behind Dream On in the Penn Mile Stakes was Cairo Caper. Like that race's victor, Cairo Caper made a late rally, but it was Dream On who reached the wire first. It was an improvement from the last time the Cairo Prince gelding crossed paths with Dream On. Running in the April 26 Woodhaven, Dream On hit the wire a length and a half over the seventh-place Cairo Caper in a crowded finish.
Colonial Downs, Saturday, August 9, 2025, Race 9Entries: Secretariat S. (G2T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Giocoso (KY) Ben Curtis 118 J. Keith Desormeaux 6/1 2 2Maui Strong (KY) Vincent Cheminaud 118 Dale L. Romans 7/2 3 3End of Romance (IRE) John R. Velazquez 118 H. Graham Motion 5/1 4 4Simulate (KY) Junior Alvarado 118 William I. Mott 8/1 5 5Antisocial (KY) Luis Saez 118 Jorge Duarte, Jr. 10/1 6 6Anegada (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 118 Michael J. Maker 12/1 7 7Cairo Caper (KY) Victor R. Carrasco 118 Phil Schoenthal 9/2 8 8Dream On (KY) Javier Castellano 120 Mark E. Casse 5/2
