09/19/19 | Grantville, PA – Dare To Dream Stable’s 3-year-old filly Rainbow Warrior broke through the maiden ranks with a gutty victory at Penn National Race Course. Rainbow Warrior was coming off her previous best effort and one that should have been a winning one last time out at Monmouth Park. Unfortunately, she just got beat at the wire after setting the pace and battling from start to finish to lose by 1/2 length. This time around, “The Warrior” would settle for nothing less other than a victory! The stunning chestnut daughter of Verrazano would go off odds on in the 6 horse field going 1 1/16 miles on the dirt. With jockey Julio Hernandez aboard, Rainbow Warrior broke alertly and was put in a stalking position around the first turn. Hernandez remained in that position on the backside never more than two lengths off the leading pair after moderate splits of 24.60 and 49.40 through a half-mile. Hernandez and “The Warrior” began to creep up through three quarters timed in 1:14.67 as she was now only a measured length off the leader Big Shot. On the final turn, Hernandez moved three-wide into the last bend and engaged with Big Shot. As they turned for home, Rainbow Warrior was carried out in the stretch as Big Shot bore out badly forcing Rainbow Warrior far out through the sixteenth. There was then quite a bit of bumping through deep stretch to the wire with Rainbow Warrior gallantly fighting and out finishing Big Shot to the finish by a neck. It was quite an effort from “The Warrior” considering she was interfered with several times. She almost certainly would have been moved up via DQ but showed immense determination to get the job done and not leave it up to the stewards. Along with this first score, Rainbow Warrior has 2 third-place finishes in her seven-race career.

Congratulations to the partners on this sweet victory. Also, congrats to trainer Mike Stidham, Hilary Pridham, Ben Trask, and the entire team. Rainbow Warrior has really improved from her 2-year-old season and has shown she wants to be a racehorse and win races. Thanks to jockey Julio Hernandez who was riding for Dare To Dream Stable for the first time, and made it a terrific debut. He rode with high confidence and knew he was on the best horse and made sure it didn’t come down to a stewards decision.

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