The 20-1 chance won the 60th Welsh National at Chepstow in December to complete a remarkable return to racing after career-saving stem-cell surgery. The Welsh gelding held off Silver By Nature to win the 2009 Welsh National by three-quarters of a length to seal his first triumph since pioneering treatment to save his career.
Dream Alliance, who made his jumps debut in November 2004, had enjoyed a host of top four finishers and four wins – including the 2007 Perth Gold Cup – before suffering a career-threatening injury at the 2008 Grand National meeting.
Dream Alliance’s trainer Hobbs has come close in the Grand National in previous years but the Somerset trainer is bidding to win the world’s richest jump race for the first time. A merry band of owners gathered in Chepstow to remind themselves how their National hope, foaled on a Welsh allotment from a 300 mare, became a winner.
Dream Alliance leaves his rivals trailing on his way to victory in the Welsh National in December. That horse became Dream Alliance, foaled on a tiny allotment on top of a slag heap from a mare that had cost £300.
Vokes seems quiet and reserved as she deals with the media attention that Dream Alliance has brought her but Davies immediately realised she was “fairly resolute”. Davies now runs the syndicate, charging each member £10 per week. His 24-year-old daughter, Hannah, runs a Dream Alliance fan site on Facebook and has a half-formed plan to ride the horse to her wedding next year.
If the Dream Alliance that turned up here for the Welsh National turns up at Aintree, in the same frame of mind, he’s probably got a top-five chance.
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