Trainer Darryn Weatherley's dream of winning the 2000 Guineas with Pier turned to a nightmare at the halfway stage of the Group 1 race at Riccarton yesterday.
But the great thing about nightmares is you can wake up from them, and Weatherley and the family team behind Pier did just that a minute later.
Pier went into the $500,000 3-year-old race the warm favourite but found himself midfield and following the wrong horses at the 1000m mark when the pace went out of the race.
That prompted jockey Michael McNab to pull him three wide and expose him early, hardly ideal on the huge Riccarton track.
"I was watching the race kind of on my own, and when he was out there three wide, my heart sank," said Weatherley.