A Dream To Share sidelined until the new year

A Dream To Share, winner of all five of his bumpers last year including at the Cheltenham and Punchestown festivals, has had a setback which will delay his hurdling debut until the new year.

Trained by the veteran John Kiely, he was a popular winner at Cheltenham in March and his exploits, along with that of his teenaged rider John Gleeson, was one of the stories of the season.

He was declared to make an early appearance this season at Punchestown in October. However, he was taken out the day before with a stone bruise.

A Dream To Share was bought by JP McManus before Cheltenham and his racing manager Frank Berry has confirmed the problem was a little more serious than first thought but he is now back in exercise.

“He had a bit of a setback, but he is back in training now and we hope he’ll be running sometime in the new year,” said Berry.

“It had nothing to do with the ground, he wouldn’t have been able to run after his setback and he was off for a few weeks but he’s back in training now and whenever he is ready he will run.

“It’s most likely we’ll see him in the new year. It’s not ideal, the timing of the setback, but there we go. Hopefully everything will go well and we’ll see him out early in the new year.”

A Dream To Share is a general 6-1 favourite for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in March.