Tag Archive for: A Dream To Share

A Dream To Share team successfully appeal handicap decision

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A Dream To Share will be given a handicap mark by the Irish handicapper after connections were successful in their appeal against the decision to not to allot a rating.

The seven-year-old, owned by JP McManus and trained by John and Thomas Kiely, won the Champion Bumper at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival but has had his attentions switched to the Flat of late.

He won one of three outings but Irish handicapper Gary O’Gorman declined to give him a mark, a decision that was reciprocated by his British Horseracing Authority counterpart.

Following an appeal hearing on Thursday, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board has confirmed A Dream To Share will now be given an official rating.

A statement said: “Having considered the submissions and observations made by the appellants and the handicapper in this appeal, the Appeals Body has decided to allow the appeal of the appellants and remit the matter to the handicapper with a direction that he should allocate a handicap mark to the horse.

“The Appeals Body will provide its reasons for this decision in writing not later than Friday 12 September 2025.”

A Dream To Share had been prominent in the ante-post betting for next month’s Club Godolphin Cesarewitch Handicap, but the BHA confirmed last week that the gelding was ineligible as the conditions of the Newmarket race meant he needed a handicap mark before August 19, with the weights published on August 27.

Cesarewitch hope A Dream To Share ineligible for Newmarket contest

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A Dream To Share, the general second favourite Club Godolphin Cesarewitch, is not eligible to run in the race, the British Horseracing Authority has confirmed.

The seven-year-old, who is owned by JP McManus, won the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival and the Punchestown equivalent in 2023 but had his attentions switched to the Flat in the spring after two disappointing runs over hurdles in the winter.

A Dream To Share subsequently won one of three Flat outings for trainers John and Thomas Kiely but he has yet to be given a handicap mark, which makes him ineligible for the Cesarewitch on October 11 as the ratings for qualification were published on August 19.

A BHA spokesperson said: “An appeal was made by connections of A Dream To Share to the BHA’s handicapping ombudsman, David Cleary, which asked him to consider whether the BHA’s handicapper has been correct in refusing to give a British Flat mark to the horse, based on the information available to them.

“In a decision that will be published in full in due course, Mr Cleary found that the approach taken in this case, following the decision of the IHRB handicapper to decline to give the horse a mark, was consistent with the treatment afforded to any other Irish-trained and raced Flat horses. He therefore denied the appeal.

“Regarding the Cesarewitch, the conditions for the race confirm that the rating used for qualification is that published on August 19, prior to publication of the weights today.

“A Dream To Share, therefore, was not qualified and – in the interests of fairness to other competitors and those who have bet on the race – there is nothing within the race conditions that allows for a horse to be added at a later date.”