KEY POINTS:
Good news boys - the baddest girl in pacing is going to leave you alone this season.
And the way One Dream returned to the track at the Pukekohe workouts on Tuesday is sure to remove at least one worry line from the foreheads of trainers of New Zealand's best male 3-year-old pacers.
One Dream had her first public outing since her crushing Breeders Crown win in August when she beat the older pacers on Tuesday.
In doing so she reaffirmed what co-trainer Dave McGowan has thought since he first laid eyes on the newly-improved One Dream in September.
"The moment I saw her I knew she was going to be bigger and stronger than last season," said McGowan.
"She has grown a lot, muscled up and looks like a real racehorse."
That is a scary thought considering One Dream looked more like a colt than a filly as she dominated the fillies' classics last season.
Wins in the Sires' Stakes Final, Caduceus Club Classic and Breeders Crown stamped her as one of the best juvenile fillies produced in New Zealand and judging by her Tuesday's performance, rival fillies will be seeing a lot of her ample hind quarters this season.
One Dream went into the c2-4 trial looking round yet still sat parked the last lap to beat, among others, Cyclone Cully, Big Dog and Christian Warrior.
"I was actually a little nervous before the trial because she was so big in condition and people expect so much from her," admits McGowan.
"I would have been happy to see her finish with them because there were some smart horses in there."
But One Dream wasn't quite so happy to settle for a stroll in the park though.
"I was at the top of the straight and when she came around the bend I could see her straining to get some loose rein from Frank [Cooney, driver].
"It was like she was saying, 'come on Frank, let me at them'."
One Dream paced her last 800m in 57 seconds, the final 400m in 27.3, a sizzling start to her new campaign.
The performance could not have come at a better time as the Auckland Trotting Club has boosted stakes for her first two major aims, the Ladyship Stakes on December 15 and the Sires' Stakes Final on December 31.
And while she is going forward some of her key rivals have hit snags, with Reality Check scratched from her comeback race at Cambridge last night with a cold and Scotlynn Jane struggling to regain her best form in the south.
While McGowan is thrilled about the boosts to the stakes for One Dream's races this month he and owner Jill Smolenski are not letting an even bigger stake increase tempt them into taking on the colts.
The ATC has boosted the Woodlands Great Northern Derby to $200,000 in March and pushed back the Great Northern Oaks to April in an effort to lure fillies like One Dream into taking on the colts.
"It would be great but I don't think we need to do that to her," said McGowan.
"Already she has a huge season with these races in December, the Nevele R Fillies series, a host of Oaks races, the Harness Jewels and the Breeders Crown in Aussie again to end it all.
"I think she is good enough to take on the colts but I don't think she needs to prove anything by doing that," he says.
One Dream will have a private workout at Alexandra Park next week in preparation for her return on December 15.
