[1] Dream Alliance was bred by Janet Vokes, whose main experience until then had been with breeding whippets and racing pigeons.
She was inspired by the idea, and soon after she and her husband, Brian, found a mare named Rewbell who was available for £1000, due in part to a barbed wire injury[3] and a very bad temperament.
[3] The horse was reared on an allotment in Cefn Fforest near the town of Blackwood in south Wales, and ultimately 23 different people joined the ownership syndicate.
[2] The syndicate was organized by Davies, who estimated that it would cost £15,000 a year to keep the horse in training and determined that 30 people, each contributing £10 a week, could work.
In a 2008 preparatory race for the Grand National at the Aintree Festival, he sliced a tendon on the course, and only the quick thinking of his jockey and the urging of Davies saved him from being euthanized.
[5] As a result of his humble background and the successful treatment, the horse received significant media coverage in the run-up to the 2010 Grand National.