Loper truly a dream for Lillingston after eyecatching Prix d'Ispahan triumph

Dreamloper's success in the Prix d'Ispahan at Longchamp on Sunday was not only a dream result for owner-breeder Olivia Hoare and trainer Ed Walker but for Luke Lillingston, who has played more than a passing role in the story of both the daughter of Lope De Vega and her dam Livia's Dream.

The five-year-old Dreamloper was raised at Lillingston's County Limerick-based Mount Coote Stud just like her mother, although the bloodstock all-rounder's involvement in the Group 1 winner's profile goes back further than that.

On Dreamloper's day in the spotlight, Lillingston said: "She won really well and hopefully there are more fun days ahead. Ed and his team have done a great job training her as she's not been the easiest."

Fate undoubtedly played its part when Lillingston met Mark Dixon, the owner of his uncle Dick Hollingsworth's bloodstock line, which went back decades to the family's Felsetta. It is a line which continues to this day through Dreamloper's granddam Brindisi.

Lillingston said: "I was introduced to Mark more than 20 years ago and his uncle was Dick Hollingsworth. Dick had this wonderful family from his foundation mare Felsetta and, as a bachelor, had a stud in Hertfordshire. He left most of his bloodstock to Mark and his sister.

"Mark wasn't interested in having the farm, but fortunately for us he was keen to keep the mares. We ended up having Yawl here, who won the Rockfel, and she started favourite for the Oaks but didn't run well but her dam Bireme won the [1980] Oaks."

He continued: "We then went into partnership with several mares, one of which was Brindisi, but she initially didn't do very well and when Livia's Dream was three, I made the decision, with hindsight a mistake, that we should sell her and she sadly went to India."

Lillingston met Hoare closer to home as her late husband Michael was joint master of the County Limerick Hunt and she wanted to get into breeding racehorses.

He said: "Olivia knew my parents and uncle Bill Harrington well and her late husband was joint master here in County Limerick. She said she wanted to get into bloodstock and racing and my uncle recommended that I looked after her. When she first started she came to the yearling sales and looked at the Mount Coote draft and just took a shining to this Teofilo-Brindisi filly.

"I remember standing at Tattersalls with this filly selling and the hammer fell and the auctioneer pointed across to the seats and said 'Madam, thank you very much'. That was Olivia purchasing the filly who is now Livia's Dream."

Livia's Dream proved a talented performer on the track, winning four times including in Listed company in the Wild Flower Stakes on her final start as a five-year-old, but the daughter of Teofilo was also an important factor in the now booming career of Walker.

Lillingston added: "Ed was just starting to train and I was minded to help him. Olivia had bought a filly and needed a trainer for her, so I introduced her to Ed and Livia's Dream was one of Ed's first horses."

Luke Lillingston: 'It's been a wonderful week.'Credit: Sarah Farnsworth

"Dreamloper is only the second foal, while the first one was quite useful and Olivia had a lot of fun with him, and the dam has a two-year-old Fastnet Rock filly.

"That one is leaving today having been with pre-trainer Joe Casey, while there's a lovely filly by Golden Horn. She's a athletic, rangy filly who will probably be a stayer but we hope she will be a good one as we all love her.

Lillingston reported that Livia's Dream has a filly foal by Masar and is now back in foal to Lope De Vega.

Dreamloper's two-length success was not the only highlight of the week for Lillingston, with Quickthorn adding a first Group-race win to his name at Sandown in the Henry II Stakes. His dam, the winning Oasis Dream mare, had been bought by Lillingston for 72,000gns from Tattersalls Book 1 in 2009.

He said: "It's been a wonderful week as on the bloodstock agency side of things I do some work for Lord and Lady Blyth and I bought the dam of Quickthorn for them as a yearling. He's been a really fun horse.

"I've also got some clients for whom I bought their very first yearling last year, a Havana Grey filly for Mike Madden and his wife Sally, and she [Star Of Lady M] won the Hilary Needler Trophy at Beverley on Saturday."

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