Unbelievable Dream up in time in Appalachian

Sure Thing Stables' homebred Unbelievable Dream was a detached last for much

of the way in Thursday's Grade 3, $100,000

Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland, but uncorked a furious late rally to get up

in time. Outkicking the disappointing 3-5 favorite Watsdachances, and collaring

Overheard and Eden Prairie in the final strides, the Barclay Tagg trainee gave

hot-riding Joel Rosario his fifth win on the card.

Unbelievable Dream was also handing her late sire, Kitalpha, his first U.S.

stakes winner. A son of Mr. Prospector and the legendary Miesque, Kitalpha was

an unraced full brother to renowned sire Kingmambo. He had great success at stud

in Zimbabwe, where he sired 2009 Horse of the Year Rebecca's Fleet, and also had

several classy performers in South Africa before his repatriation to Kentucky in

2008. Sadly, Kitalpha died of cancer last September at War Horse Place near

Lexington.

Not quite seven months later, Unbelievable Dream would make posthumous news

for her sire. The New York-bred was off as the 9-2 second choice on the strength

of her late-running allowance score at Gulfstream Park on March 3, and she

repeated the feat against a deeper field in this stakes debut.

As Unbelievable Dream was unhurried early in the rear, To My Valentine was

noticeably rank as she led the way through an opening quarter in :23 1/5 on the

firm turf. Eden Prairie slipped through along the fence to take over on the

backstretch and carved out a half-mile in :47 1/5. Rounding the far turn, To My

Valentine came again and regained the lead after six furlongs in 1:13 2/5.

But Eden Prairie was not done. The sometime pacesetter roared back on the

inside, while To My Valentine began to weaken, and Overheard loomed up on the

outside. Watsdachances was trying to work into contention, but couldn't quite

fire.

Overheard appeared to have made a well-timed move, edging past a stubborn

Eden Prairie in deep stretch. But Unbelievable Dream was making very believable

progress at the same time, and she had all of the momentum. Propelling herself a

half-length clear of Overheard at the wire, Unbelievable Dream finished the

grassy mile in 1:37 4/5 and returned $11.80, $5.60 and $4.60.

"I told (Rosario) she likes to come from out of it," Tagg said. "And I said,

'You gotta wait until they turn for home. You can't move early on her.' That's

all I told him. I said six lengths would be fine, but he was a little further

back than that."

"I was really worried," admitted Rosario, whose mount had raced as far as 15

lengths off the pace. "I said, 'Oh my God. Maybe I'm never going to get there.'

But Barclay told me that's the way she likes to run."

Was Rosario convinced that Unbelievable Dream would reel in the leaders once

she got going?

"Not really," the winning rider said. "They (leaders) never stopped, but she

really put in a good run for home. I was thinking maybe I would never get there

but she really got there. That was awesome."

Eden Prairie yielded by just a head to Overheard back in third. Watsdachances

reported home another 1 3/4 lengths away in fourth, followed by Midnight Ballet,

To My Valentine, Bethany Belle and the tailed-off Rusty Slipper. Rutherford Rd

and Fadeintoinfinity were scratched.

Jockey Javier Castellano, who rode Watsdachances, had no complaints about

their trip.

"She ran great. I couldn't blame anything," Castellano said. "She was coming

back off a layoff from (a second-place finish in the) Breeders' Cup (Juvenile

Fillies Turf).

"She just ran even all the way. I don't know why. She was in fourth place and

we were keeping track of the key horses. When the other horses started coming

on, I started to get my spot to get a jump on the horses coming from behind.

When I made that move, she was just (running) even in the stretch. But she came

back good; she didn't come back that tired at all."

The once-beaten Unbelievable Dream nearly doubled her bankroll to $120,735

from her 4-3-0-0 line, all on turf. The chestnut lunged at the start in her

November 18 debut at Aqueduct, but still rallied to defeat fellow New York-breds

by a good-looking three lengths. Unbelievable Dream next appeared at Gulfstream

in an entry-level allowance on January 20, where she wound up fifth after a wide

trip, and bounced back versus similar last time.

Tagg was asked why he stepped her up to graded company here.

"For one thing, there's not a whole lot of places to run a three-year-old

filly after they win their first allowance race," the trainer noted. "You're

lucky if you get them in another allowance.

"She likes to do it, and she likes to win, and I could see that in the first

races. She was just caught in a wide trip in the middle there and she didn't get

there in her second race. Her other two (wins) were impressive enough, and I

just liked the way she was coming into it."

Unbelievable Dream is out of the unraced Stephen Got Even mare A Perfect

Weekend. She comes from the family of multiple Peruvian Group 1 star Pigricia,

and further back, 1968 Belmont Stakes hero Stage Door Johnny.

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