For the past 25 years, a select group of Canada’s top horses and people have been honoured with the sport’s most prestigious award – the O’Brien. This year, we pay tribute to the winners who have stood boldly at the top of the podium, and reveal your picks for the O’Brien Dream Team.
Over the next few weeks, Trot Insider will feature one of the Dream Team selections as well as a race from that horse's illustrious career.
This week we profile Older Pacing Mare Eternal Camnation. Eternal Camnation earned more than $4.1 million and won 47 of her 101 starts over six racing seasons, frequently getting the better of such luminaries as: Bunny Lake ($2.8 million), Worldly Beauty ($1.9 million), Burning Point ($2.9 million), Cathedra Dot Com ($1.5 million), Sanabelle Island ($1.6 million), Carolina Sunshine ($1.2 million), Arts Virtue ($1.1 million) and more.
“They’ve always had that argument about who’s the best mare. I say, ‘How could it not be her? She was the best filly in the best bunch of fillies, historically, that’s ever come down the pike.’ There have been good fillies, but they’ve never had the competition from top to bottom that they did the years she was racing… Eternal Camnation may not have been the fastest, but when she came down to that finish line, I thought she was always the toughest,” trainer and co-owner Jeff Miller said of his mare, who was no slouch in the speed department with a 1:49.2 mile to her credit.
Among her many stakes triumphs, Eternal Camnation won three Breeders Crowns, three Milton Stakes finals, two Roses Are Red Stakes, a Fan Hanover and a Jugette. All but one of the Breeders Crowns and the Jugette were won in Canada.
Dream Team Voting - Older Pacing Mare
1. Eternal Camnation - 54.4 %
2. Dreamfair Eternal - 10.3 %
3. Anndorvette - 7.2 %
Be sure to check out the full O'Brien Dream Team in the January issue of Trot Magazine.
Greatest Mare Ever?
August 30, 2003
There’s a reason that Eternal Camnation is the richest pacing mare in history – she simply refuses to lose. Under a stiff Eric Ledford steer, the classy veteran won tonight’s $405,405 Breeders Crown final on sheer determination.
From the gate, favourite Bunny Lake headed directly to the lead through an opening split of :26.1, with Worldly Beauty and Eternal Camnation just in behind her. Ledford cut Eternal Camnation loose just past the quarter and engaged Bunny Lake in a speed dual, which she won, passing the half-mile marker in :54.1. In the lane, Bunny Lake actually stuck her head back in front, but Eternal Camnation fought back with the bravery that has made her a three-time Breeders Crown champ. At the wire she was one length ahead of Bunny Lake in 1:51.1.
Owned by the Eternal Camnation Stable, the win was the mare’s 35th lifetime and third this season. Trained by Jeff Miller, Eternal Camnation’s bankroll now stands at $2,967,130.
Bunny Lake paced honestly to finish second, while Cam Swifty rounded out the triactor.
(Video courtesy WEG)