Dreamfair Eternal, Canada’s reigning Horse of the Year, is not letting her stakes opportunities go to

waste.

So far this season, the seven-year-old pacing mare has won the Golden Girls, Lady Liberty, Roses Are Red, Ontario Masters and Ellamony on her way to $610,505 in purses. Only a fourth-place finish in the Artiscape in early June has kept her from being perfect in her big-money starts this year.

She now ranks No. 8 in earnings among all female pacers in history, with $2.24 million. My Little Dragon ($2.31 million) and Southwind Tempo ($2.39 million) are just ahead of her. Eternal Camnation, with $3.74 million, tops the list.

“I enjoy her probably as much as my own children and grandchildren,” breeder/owner John Lamers said with a laugh. “We raised her, so it’s special. She just hates to lose. She’s a bit of a freak.”

Since 2003, when the Golden Girls made its debut on the schedule, the Patrick Fletcher-trained Dreamfair Eternal is the first mare to ever win the Golden Girls, Lady Liberty and Roses Are Red in the same year.

Over her last 39 starts, dating back to October 2009, Dreamfair Eternal has won 28 times and finished no worse than third in 36 of those races.

This year, the daughter of Camluck--J Cs Nathalie has won six of 10 races, but she got off to a slow start, returning from her winter break in May and losing three of her first four races.

“That was probably my own fault, and Pat’s fault,” Lamers said. “We kind of took it easy with her. We didn’t do a whole lot of work with her over the winter, just jogged her periodically. Maybe we got her started off a little too soon. It’s like any athlete, once they’ve been off a little while, you can’t start up where you left off. It takes time to get everything built back up.”

After Dreamfair Eternal’s fourth-place finish in the Artiscape regular driver Randy Waples was replaced by Jody Jamieson for the Ellamony. Dreamfair Eternal responded by winning in 1:52.1.

Waples was back in the sulky for the Ontario Masters, which Dreamfair Eternal won in a Canadian Record 1:50.3. After a third-place finish in the Roses Are Red elimination, they teamed to win the $404,250 final from Post 9 at Mohawk by a nose over Laughandbehappy and head over favourite Anndrovette.

“That was pretty exciting, for sure,” Lamers said. “We won by only a couple inches. There were three noses coming across the wire there. Maybe 'Eternal’s got a little bit longer neck and stuck it out there at the wire.”

Next, Dreamfair Eternal headed to the Meadowlands, where Brian Sears handled the driving, and won the Lady Liberty on August 6 and last Saturday’s Golden Girls. She won the Golden Girls by two and a quarter lengths from Post 8, with a :26.4 final quarter-mile.

Lamers said switching up drivers was a decision he “didn’t want to make," but "felt it was necessary.”

“I’m a bad man with the public for doing that, but it worked out well,” he said. “These guys are all professional people. They’re all super drivers and have done a wonderful job. There are no hard feelings between any one of us. It’s a business. Whenever somebody wants to pay my bills, I guess I’ll listen to them and use a driver they recommend. But when I pay the bills, I do what I want to do.”

Dreamfair Eternal still has a busy stakes schedule ahead. Next is the Spring of Hope Invitational at Mohawk on September 3. She also has the Milton on September 24 at Mohawk, the Allerage on October 2 at the Red Mile, the Breeders Crown on October 29 at Woodbine and the Forest City on November 26 at Western Fair.

If all goes well, she will return in 2012 for another season.

“We’ll see what happens,” Lamers said. “We’ll see how she finishes up. I don’t know how many more (1):49 or (1):50 miles she’s got left in her, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. She seems to get stronger and stronger as the year progresses. If she starts to taper off, then we’ll call it a career. But if she keeps producing and winning, and loves doing it -- I guess that’s the biggest thing. She’s so happy. She’s an amazing animal.”

This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit ustrotting.com.