Dreamarcher takes Wine Country Stakes in Santa Rosa

By Dennis Miller

The strategy was pretty straightforward for jockey Julien Couton and his horse Dreamarcher in the 6th running of the $50,000 Wine Country Stakes at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa on Saturday.

It was a five-horse field and Dreamarcher is a horse that likes to run from off the pace, so there was little communication between Couton and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer who was down in Southern California.

“Not really,” said Couton when asked if he talked by phone with Hollendorfer before the race. “Obviously I knew we had a horse that likes to run from the back. I knew Sweet Queen would go to the lead and I wanted to be right behind her. I wanted to be able to jump on Sweet Queen.”

Couton did just that, sitting fourth early, moving up to third in the middle race and finally taking control in the lane, beating the favored Sweet Queen by almost two lengths to win the race.

The 1-<1/16>-mile race did have only the five horses, pretty much a dream for a closer. There would be little or no traffic for Couton to worry about when he made his run.

“It makes it a jockey’s race,” said Couton, who had Dreamarcher breaking from the inside post. “You just want to be smart and not get in trouble. I wanted to get out from the one spot and save some ground.”

There was concern coming into the race that Sweet Queen could get an easy lead and might get loose on the front end. Breakaway Dixie kept Sweet Queen honest through the first half of the race, but even so, Couton was not that concerned.

“I wasn’t that worried,” said Couton of Sweet Queen getting away. “I had a pretty good hold on my horse throughout. She was very impressive (Saturday). When I asked her (to run) she really took off.”

They turned in the perfect trip, sitting off the early speed of Sweet Queen until it was time go. Sweet Queen, to the surprise of very few, completed the exacta, with Breakaway Dixie running third. She’s My Cookie and Tiza Diva completed the order of finish.