The dream’s alive but Nate tells why he’ll wait for ‘Harry’ before racing Eric again

Trainer and part-owner Nathan Delany will wait for gun junior driver Harrison Orange to return to New Zealand before lining up improving colt Dreams Of Eric again.

Orange, 18, has driven Dreams Of Eric in each of his last six starts and Thursday night’s win brought their record together to two wins and two placings.

Delany is so enamoured with the newcomer’s ability in the cart that he will let Dreams Of Eric miss racing next week when Orange will be away in Brisbane, competing in the Australasian young drivers’ championship.

Orange is one of four New Zealand representatives, along with Sam Thornley, Carter Dalgety and Wilson House, in the four night-series which starts on Tuesday.

Delany, who trains the horse with Ray Green at Lincoln Farms is a junior driver himself but says “Harry” is so talented he has an extremely bright future ahead of him.

The fastest driver to reach 50 wins in New Zealand, Orange’s tally is now 53, of which 45 have come this year.

Delany praised the way Orange rated the Vincent colt on Thursday despite being attacked hard by Benson Dude and continually niggled at throughout the running.

He admitted he was surprised at how well the horse kicked on the home turn, putting up a break that the favourite Ohoka Achilles found beyond him.

Nathan Delany … leased Dreams Of Eric and races him with his mate Cody Evans.In winning by one and a quarter lengths, Dreams Of Eric posted the respectable time of 2:41.7, a mile rate of 1:58.3.

“I thought he’d run top three but I didn’t expect him to go that well,” Delany said.

“I thought Ohoka Achilles would be too good for him so I didn’t even back him.”

Sixth favourite in the field of seven, Dreams of Eric paid $13.80 on the tote and was as long as $18 on fixed odds before the race.

But Delany had warned to expect a better performance than the horse’s last-start eighth at Auckland six days earlier.

“The change of direction helped him out a lot. He just isn’t comfortable going right-handed and gets a knee.

“He’s also improved a lot. He ran all his quarters on Thursday night in under 30.”

Delany said it was a “team effort” at Lincoln Farms that had helped the insignificant-looking colt to perform so well.

“Everyone at the barn helps out but he’s a very easy horse to train. He’s very quiet and sometimes you wouldn’t even know he’s a colt.”

Delany said the three-year-old was starting to live up to his name for his ownership mate Cody Evans.

“He has big footsteps to follow as his half sister Jo’s Dream won a Group I race.”

Delany leased the horse from breeders Jo and Graham Goodin after he failed to reach his $15,000 reserve as a yearling, buyers passing over the small, ordinary-looking colt.

His record now reads nine starts for two wins, four placings and $12,985 in stakes.

The win took Delany’s personal training tally to three and his total for Lincoln Farms to 24 since he joined in a training partnership at the start of the year.