Sean Kirrane will forever be grateful for the loyalty shown by Adam West and the De'Lemos family as he prepares to make his Breeders’ Cup bow aboard Nunthorpe hero Live In The Dream.
The horse has proved appropriately named for the 23-year-old rider from Mount Merrion in Dublin, who tasted Group One glory in his very first ride at the top level aboard the West-trained four-year-old on the Knavesmire.
That blistering all-the-way success secured Live In The Dream’s ticket to Santa Anita and Kirrane, who has partnered the gelding in 11 of his 19 career starts, is eager to point out it would have been easy for connections to plump for one of the weighing room’s star names for their once-in-a-lifetime tilt at the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
He said: "They would have had plenty of phone calls to ride this horse, even on the smaller days when he ran in the Temple Stakes and the race after that and the Nunthorpe. This particular day I’m sure they will have had plenty of phone calls, but their loyalty to me has been outstanding and I can’t thank them enough.
"Adam, Steve and Jolene have stuck by me and they have had me for plenty of days in the sun before the Nunthorpe and for them to give me my first ride in a Group One was amazing. I was so glad to reward them on the day for putting their faith in me."
The former Blackrock College alumnus is based in Yorkshire and a regular on the northern circuit, but has a flying visit to Epsom to thank for his long-lasting relationship with West and an association that has thrived from the very beginning.
"It’s probably an unusual match to have a northern-based jockey match-up with an Epsom and truly southern-based trainer and Adam was a completely chance contact," continued Kirrane.
"I was claiming and riding for David O’Meara at the time and he had me down south two days in a row, he had me at Epsom one day, then Goodwood the next. I was staying over in Epsom and just thought 'how can I use up the following morning', so gave Adam a call to see if I could go ride out.
"He said 'yes, pop in for a couple of lots' and the first horse he put me on was a filly called Sky Blue Thinking. I’ll never forget her as she won three on the bounce and got me and Adam off to a flyer.
"We’ve had a really good strike-rate and great association ever since and now here we are."
Their journey together came to a crescendo at York in the summer when Live In The Dream blazed a trail to give both trainer and jockey a first Group One triumph.
Connections always had the utmost belief that their sprinting star could one day climb to the top of the speedster’s ladder, but Live In The Dream’s underdog story has propelled a young rider fresh out of his claim and a trainer searching to make his name in the game firmly into the spotlight.
Incredible! An Epsom-trained winner of the @coolmorestud Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes 🏆
— York Racecourse (@yorkracecourse) August 25, 2023
Live In The Dream produces a huge career-best to land the G1 prize for @sb_kirrane & Adam West! pic.twitter.com/7ChbM1Jjt5
"He’s achieved things this year that none of us thought we might ever achieve," continued Kirrane.
"We thought he had a lot of potential for maybe next year, but the fact he has achieved so much this year has been excellent and we owe the horse a lot.
"I don’t know how far I’ll get in my career but he’s a horse I will never forget. He’s given me a massive boost by winning the Nunthorpe so soon after losing my claim and it’s something a jockey in my position sort of never dreams.
"I have this horse and I knew he was capable of a lot, but it was so special to get a big winner on the board and then to have the opportunity to come here. I suppose we’ve already won this year regardless of what happens on Saturday, but to just be here with the horse while he is in such great form is excellent."
He continued: "This is what we do Wolverhampton on a Monday and Catterick on Tuesday for. We do it to get the opportunities on the big days and the weekends. This is definitely one of those big days and whatever happens on Saturday, we all owe the horse an awful lot. For me it is not just a massive eye-opener but a brilliant experience."
Since success in the Nunthorpe, West has left no stone unturned in his quest for Breeders’ Cup glory and that included sending both Live In The Dream and Kirrane to Keeneland to tune-up for their Santa Anita assignment in the Woodford Stakes.
Live In The Dream would eventually fade to fourth in the five-and-a-half-furlong contest but having shown up well, his rider is confident that first taste of American soil will have played a key role in preparing for his main objective.
"Keeneland was a nice race to start off his campaign in the States in," said Kirrane.
"Adam picked that race out and being five and a half furlongs, ultimately that did stretch him really. There was quite a strong headwind on the day and he was really pressed for the lead the whole way round which wasn’t ideal and doing quite a bit early on just caught him out late in the day in the last half-furlong.
"He showed us everything we wanted to see on that day and it was really important to get him here and find a race on the grass for him really, which is exactly what Adam did. It really sets us up nicely for Saturday.
"Adam is a spectacular judge of what he has and what hand he has to play. It was the same when we went to Deauville, he knew he might need the run and that was exactly what happened – he was a fading fourth that day on very soft ground.
"He came out the next day and won the Nunthorpe and Adam was absolutely spot on in getting him right. He was spot on in predicting how he would run at Keeneland and hopefully he will be spot on about how he will run at Santa Anita."
Kirrane has already had a taste of the Santa Anita turf when putting Live In The Dream through his paces ahead of this weekend’s big race.
"I took Live In The Dream out for a canter and he just did a swinger from the three marker and he felt great," he added.
"The turf was riding great – they sectioned off the outer half of the turf track for us to canter on – and he went round the bend lovely and it is all systems go."
