Phoenix Of Dreams made his ninth start of the year on Monday as he headed to Wolverhampton for the first time for trainers John & Sean Quinn.

Hope were high going into the race off the back of Phoenix Of Dreams' really good performance last time out at Newcastle, but it was an unfortunate start for our runner as he missed the break and fell behind in the opening stages of the contest. The wide draw in stall 9 certainly didn't help either and by the time he'd reached the first bend it looked almost an impossible task to claw back much ground on those that had shot off in front. Harrison Shaw [jockey] kept him up to his work down the home straight, but was ultimately unable to get back on terms with the rest of the field, and brought our gelding home six lengths behind the winner. 

Despite that result, it's still been a fantastic first year on the racecourse for our three-year-old son of Phoenix Of Spain. He made his debut in April finishing a very promising fourth place at Thirsk, before going on to finish third at Catterick next time out. Following that, he then went on a remarkable run finishing second on three consecutive occasions from June through to August.

He finally got his head in front at Redcar in October in a three-runner maiden, before posting his best effort yet after finishing within a neck of the winner back in handicap company at Newcastle two starts ago.

From his nine runs this year, Phoenix Of Dreams has without a doubt been our most consistent runner and provided plenty of excitement, and in the process has amassed over £10,000 in prize money for Coral Racing Club members who were lucky enough to be his owners for the day from our competitions.

Following Monday's race, trainer Sean Quinn sent us a video including his thoughts on how the race went, whilst also outlining what the plan is for Phoenix Of Dreams' future as we head into 2025.

Tune in to find out what Sean had to say and stay tuned for the next update from Highfield Stables.