After completing a hat-trick of wins on the flat, she set out on her hurdling career and progressed through the ranks to become champion novice hurdler in Britain and Ireland.

Her other big victories that season included the Christmas Hurdle (2 miles) at Kempton, in which she beat the reigning Champion Hurdler Gaye Brief by a neck after a duel up the home stretch, the Sandemans Hurdle at Aintree Racecourse (2 miles 5½ furlongs), which she won in a canter by fifteen lengths, and the Prix La Barka at Auteuil.

She followed up by beating the subsequent two-mile champion chaser Buck House over two and a half miles at Leopardstown later the same month despite making a bad mistake at the last fence.

As Dawn Run led the field into the straight with just two fences and the uphill finish ahead of them, Wayward Lad and Forgive 'n Forget swept past the mare.

Wayward Lad regained the lead coming to the last fence, pressed by Forgive 'n Forget with Dawn Run struggling in third.

In her next race at Aintree, Dawn Run failed to get past the first fence, but followed up by again beating Buck House in a specially arranged match over two miles at the Punchestown Festival.

[3] The horse's death at age eight, while barely into her prime as a steeplechaser, was mourned by the racing public, including being reported on the front page of the following day's Irish Times.