Trot Insider concludes the O’Briens Profiles series ahead of Saturday’s gala, this time showcasing the finalists in the three-year-old trotting filly category.
Lasting Dream, Monalishi and Stormont Beautiful comprise the trio of talented fillies.
Lasting Dream tussled with Grand Circuit types for Determination of Montreal, Que. and recorded key successes in the Elegantimage Stakes, Delmonica Hanover Consolation II and Continentalvictory. The filly hit the board in two overnight races at Woodbine Mohawk Park to start the year and scored her first win in a conditioned dash after a fifth-place finish in the Zweig Memorial at Vernon Downs. She then went back stateside and came fifth in her Hambletonian Oaks elimination before back-to-back victories. The first was a 1:51.4 score in the Continentalvictory at The Meadowlands, and she knocked a tick off that mark when she captured the second Delmonica Hanover consolation at Pocono Downs in 1:51.3, which tied a track record that was beaten later on the card.
The Luc Blais trainee finished second in the Simcoe Stakes back home at Mohawk and went into the Elegantimage off a third-place effort in her elimination. Starting from post 10 in that Grade 1 contest, she sat fourth on the pylons around the final turn and dashed up the rail to finish what appeared to be a strong but clear second behind R Dutchess. But R Dutchess was disqualified for interference on the first turn, promoting Lasting Dream to first. The victory amounted to more than half of Lasting Dream’s $363,856 in earnings in 2025.
“Lasting Dream started the season unlucky,” said Louis-Philippe Roy, who was her driver in all 13 seasonal starts. “I always had good hopes for her. In the Elegantimage, she drew bad in there so we almost felt like it was continuation of that bad luck, but she ended up being lucky there with the placement.”
The homebred daughter of Cantab Hall-Dream Together finished the season with a sixth-place finish in the Breeders Crown final. She put together a 4-3-2 record in 13 starts.
On the back of an O’Brien Award-winning rookie season, Monalishi went four-for-11 with major victories in the Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Super Final and New York New York Mile. The Blake MacIntosh pupil began the year on a winning note, cruising to victory in her SBOA Stakes elimination, but she was three-quarters of a length short in the final. After finishing fifth in the first OSS Gold leg, she snagged her first seasonal win in the provincial program by 2-1/4 lengths in 1:52.3 on June 20 at Mohawk. That was followed by a dominant win in the New York New York Mile at Yonkers in 1:55.2. She was then off for nearly three months with a hoof issue, returning on Sept. 22 with a place finish behind O’Brien finalist P L Spencer in a conditioned race at Mohawk. After a break in the final OSS Gold leg, she closed in :27.1 in the Super Final and stopped the clock in a lifetime-best 1:52.1.
“Monalishi has a nose for making money,” said regular driver James MacDonald. “She had a setback mid-season this year and I didn’t think she would be back. She came back from that and didn’t miss a beat. She always shows up when the money is down.”
That affinity for big races contributed to a seasonal bankroll of $431,694 for owners Tim Klemencic of Trenton, Ont. and MacIntosh of St. George, Ont. The daughter of Green Manalishi S-Pretty Phylly G closed for fourth in her Breeders Crown elimination and improved on that placing in the final, taking the show cheque behind Dan Patch Award winner Yo Tillie and another finalist for this category, Stormont Beautiful. The third-place finish gave her a line of 4-2-1 in 11 starts on the year.
Stormont Beautiful, a homebred for Stormont Meadows of Long Sault, Ont., also tallied four victories as a three-year-old and hit the board in 12 of 16 appearances. She showed her mettle in the fifth OSS Gold round when she exploded off cover from sixth and drew away by 7-1/2 lengths for a career mark of 1:52.2. The daughter of Resolve-Stormont Fried finished second in an overnight and fifth in an SBOA Stakes elim to start the year, but she impressed in her third start as she came home in :26.4 in a conditioned race for a 1:53.3 victory. Her sixth-place effort in Gold leg two in the following start was her lowest finish of the year. From there, the Kevin Benn-trained filly went on to win another overnight, an elimination for the Elegantimage (with Lasting Dream third) and the final Gold preliminary.
“She was a real testament to Kevin Benn’s horsemanship,” said Bob McClure, who drove Stormont Beautiful in 13 of her 16 outings. “She showed flashes of talent early, but there were times when I wasn’t sure if she could be competitive in Golds. He did a great job with her, and she put together an unbelievable run late in the year. Kevin deserves a lot of credit.”
Stormont Beautiful was in the exactor in her final six starts of the year as she was placed up to second in the Elegantimage final, chased Monalishi home for second in the OSS Super Final, and passed eight horses in the last quarter-mile of the Breeders Crown final to finish a length back of Yo Tillie. She went 4-6-2 and collected $500,154 in 16 appearances.
This year marks the 37th edition of the O’Brien Awards, named in honour of the late Joe O’Brien, an outstanding horseman and Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee. The winners will be announced at the O’Brien Awards Gala on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026 at the J-AAR Expo Centre at Western Fair District in London, Ont.
(Standardbred Canada; photos courtesy New Image Media)