Bloodstock agent Dan Preiss isn’t used to having a big budget come sales time. The West Coast-based Preiss typically assembles a bevy of different owners to come together on a $50,000 horse. Or even a $20,000 horse. But when his longtime friend and trainer O.J. Juaregui told Preiss his client Danny Eplin was in the market for a stakes-quality filly with a tidy fund to accompany his request, the agent jumped at the opportunity—and made the most of it—acquiring the undefeated Sorrento Stakes (G3) victress Dreamfyre .
The more they asked, the more she gave. 🎙️
Dreamfyre & @HIBerrios win the Sorrento Stakes presented by @keenelandsales. pic.twitter.com/jPCrO1KXAO
— Del Mar Racetrack (@DelMarRacing) August 12, 2023
The sprightly filly caught Preiss’ attention at this year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales’ Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, where she bestowed her speed to the public for the first time with a scorching eighth-mile breeze in :09 4/5 at the under tack show.
“Typically I don’t have a big budget to spend so I’m not looking at horses that go :09 4/5 at the 2-year-old sales too often,” Preiss said. “(Dreamfyre) was just an absolute speedball. I’m also good friends with her consignor, Steve Venosa (of SGV Thoroughbreds), and he told me I should look at this horse and that she can really fly.”
Preiss snagged Dreamfyre for $140,000 when it was all said and done.
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“For the price that we paid for her, that’s really not that much for a :09 and 4 kind of horse,” Preiss acknowledged. “Though $140,000 was still a lot more than what I was used to spending.”
Dreamfyre is from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Flameaway , a son of the late Scat Daddy who earned nearly $1 million on the track for owner John Oxley and trainer Mark Casse. Oxley bred Dreamfyre, the fifth foal from his stakes-placed mare Appreciating. The Sky Mesa mare, the dam of five winners from five foals to hit the track, had already produced a black-type runner with 2020 Starlet Stakes (G1) third-place finisher Nasreddine (Nyquist ).
“I’m a huge Scat Daddy fan,” Preiss said. “You can’t buy those anymore but Flameaway is the next best thing. I like the Flameaways. I started looking at them when they were first weanlings and I really liked them and kept looking at them.”
Flameaway has risen to number two on the first-crop sires list after Dreamfyre’s runaway victory Aug. 12 at Del Mar. After becoming the Darby Dan Farm stallion’s first stakes winner with her debut romp in the July 9 Everett Nevin Stakes at Pleasanton, she became Flameaway’s first graded stakes winner after Saturday.
Dreamfyre’s stirring maiden triumph over males only naturally encouraged her connections to try her against graded company in the Sorrento. Following three breezes over the Del Mar surface, the dark bay stormed to the front In a matter of strides, whistling through a :21.71 first quarter.
“When I saw the first quarter go up in :21 and 3 normally that would scare me to death but since she ran :21 and 4 at Pleasanton which is a much deeper track I wasn’t bothered by :21 and 3 at Del Mar at all,” Preiss said.
Unchallenged through a testing half-mile in :45.10, Dreamfyre rebroke at the top of the lane when thwarted by $800,000 purchase Benedetta and surged to the wire a decisive 3 1/2-length winner. She became Preiss’ first graded stakes-winning purchase as an agent. The prestigious $300,000 Del Mar Debutante (G1), a Sept. 9 prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), could be next on the radar for Dreamfyre.
“I know a bunch of other guys looked at her (at the OBS April sale) and didn’t like her for one reason or another,” Preiss said. “That’s the beauty of this game—we all have our different opinions of what we’re looking at and we’re competing against each other. After her success, a lot of those guys that didn’t like her reached out to me and congratulated me on picking her out. It’s fun to be right once in a while.”
Ascendancy takes the Luther Burbank Stakes at Santa Rosa
Dreamfyre completed a prosperous two weeks for Preiss, who also bought and co-owns Aug. 5 Luther Burbank Stakes winner Ascendancy . The 4-year-old Classic Empire filly dropped the hammer for $77,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. She has won seven of 19 starts for earnings of $214,940. Juaregui also trains Ascendancy.
“O.J. has handled her really well. As soon as she stretched out in her races she’s done well,” Preiss said. “We’ve taken our time with her and built her up the right way. She’s taken good care of us.”
Preiss wouldn’t have been able to buy Ascendancy if it wasn’t for his father stepping in to support the agent with some final-hour funds. The gamble paid off when Preiss was able to sell shares of the filly in the “drive to the L.A. airport” from the sales grounds.
“I think she’s ready to do a little bit more,” Preiss said of Ascendancy. “I’ve been looking at the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf (G3T, Sept. 9 at Kentucky Downs) as a possibility right now. I think her numbers fit. We’ll see if we can get her ready in time.”
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