Bred, raised, and owned her entire life by John & Mary Lamers of Ingersoll, Ontario, Dreamfair Eternal has proven to be a “Dream” come true for the couple and their family.
By Chris Lomon
John Lamers' eyes widened in amazement as the foal, all of 20 minutes into her life, stood up and then began to nurse. It was then when the thought first crossed his mind, not a foolish notion in his estimation: the little filly had big stardom in store.
Her name would be Dreamfair Eternal, bred and owned by Lamers and his wife, Mary. It was on their picturesque parcel of land, Dreamfair Stables, just south of Highway 401 on County Road 19 in the Ingersoll area, where the bay was born.
“I can remember it like it was yesterday,” said John, a longtime horse owner. “And I often do think about her early days. It ended up to be a thrill of a lifetime, a great story.”
The story of Dreamfair Eternal began with a trip by John to Mohawk Raceway in the early 1990s.
“I went to Mohawk Raceway and claimed J Cs Nathalie for $25,000,” recalled Lamers, of the Quebec-bred who would win over $258,000 (mostly from Quebec Sires Stakes competition) in her racing career. “I had been watching her racing for some time. There was a lot I liked about her, so I made the decision to get her.”
While J Cs Nathalie, bred by Gaetan Dessureault of St. Constant, Que., didn’t provide a racing windfall for the Lamers, she would go on to be the broodmare of his dreams.
“When I made the choice to claim her, I loved her pedigree and I felt she could be a decent broodmare,” noted John.
She would turn out to be far more than just decent.
In 2011, J Cs Nathalie, whose progeny also includes 2002 Provincial Cup winner Dreamfair Vogel p,4,1:49.3s ($1,170,514), was inducted into the U.S. Harness Racing Hall of Fame as a Broodmare.
Over the years, Nathalie was bred to 11 different sires by Lamers, but it was the mating in the Spring of 2003, when she was bred to Camluck for the second time, that would result in the birth of Dreamfair Eternal.
Camluck holds the distinction of being North America’s all-time leading money-winning sire. A son of the legendary Cam Fella, Camluck is a member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame and the United States Living Horse Hall of Fame.
Dreamfair Eternal would have a lot to live up to, in rivaling the accomplishments of her parents both on and off the racetrack.
And that’s precisely what she did.
Her career began slowly with just four pari-mutuel starts at age two. After making breaks in three of those four races, she would resurface in April of her three-year-old year, and although still nothing spectacular on paper, that season would produce four wins including a score in an OSS Grassroots event at Flamboro in 1:55.4.
At age four the real speed started to show itself under the guidance of new trainer Marvin Waite, when she’d lower her mark to 1:51 in a n/w of 3 event at Woodbine. Then, after being qualified by Waite at the beginning of her five-year-old season and moving into the barn of Patrick Fletcher, the entire racing world would find out who Dreamfair Eternal really was. That season saw her win 17 races, including the $373,600 Roses Are Red Final, lower her mark to 1:49, and take home the O’Brien Award as Canada’s top Aged Pacing Mare.
At the age of six, Dreamfair Eternal became only the third older pacing mare to be honoured as the O’Brien Award winner as Canada’s Horse of the Year. Her 2010 campaign was remarkable, one that yielded 16 wins from 22 starts and over $942,000 in earnings. She racked up wins in the $300,000 Breeders Crown, the $372,000 Milton Stakes, the $167,000 Forest City Pace, the $160,000 Artiscape, among others.
Her on-track career spanned seven years. In all, she won 56 races, every stakes event on the older pacing mare schedule, took a mark of 1:49f, topped more than $2.5 million in purse money, and was a bona fide fan favourite known for as powerful a closing kick as racing fans have ever witnessed.
In 2012, she retired as the sixth richest pacing mare in harness racing history.
In March, 2014 Dreamfair Eternal gave birth to a filly sired by two-time Horse of the Year and 2009 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Somebeachsomewhere.
One month later, she was elected into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
“There aren’t too many people that are lucky enough to say they have a Hall of Fame horse,” said Lamers. “It sure does feel wonderful that it happened.”
The Lamers often find themselves recalling the accomplishments, adulation and acknowledgements associated with their Dreamfair Eternal.
But, they also have fond remembrances of her early days, long before she stamped herself as a revered champion, years before she stepped into her new life as a broodmare.
The awkward first steps still bring a smile to their faces.
“I’ve foaled 80-85 horses, maybe more,” said John. “But, none of them have stuck out like her. I was right there when she was born. I can still recall her, not too long after she came into the world, looking right at me. It was as though she was saying, 'Hello, world. Here I am.' She was gorgeous.”
And more than just a pretty face.
“When we broke her, she was easy enough to handle,” he recalled. “She learned things quickly, but maybe she tried to do too much. She’d be making breaks, little things here and there. Just like any horse, she had her issues. That’s to be expected. But, when (trainer) Pat Fletcher came along, he had that patient hand she needed. The talent was certainly there. It was just a question of time and putting it all together, really just taking things one day at a time.”
Through it all, even away from the track, Dreamfair Eternal was a battler.
“When she was a yearling, she found a way to get herself stuck in this L-shaped concrete abutment at the end of the barn,” recollected John. “She got wedged in there pretty good, but she did her best to get out. She did everything she could to free herself.”
Dreamfair Eternal brought that will and resilience to the races, carving out a celebrated career, one the man who knows her best continues to marvel at.
“I’m sitting here talking and all around me are reminders of what she did,” offered Lamers. “I’m looking at her O’Brien Awards, the Horse of the Year trophy, and other trophies she won. I look at it all every single day. I’m just taken aback at what she was able to do. You just feel very fortunate to have a horse like that in your life.”
It’s also an accurate way to describe what Lamers feels whenever he sees Dreamfair Eternal, the broodmare, sauntering through the Dreamfair Stable fields with her foal by her side.
“I’m in awe,” he said. “When I look at her baby, I see the same horse as her."
That’s certainly not a bad thing.
“It’s scary,” said Lamers with a laugh.
Scary good, he’ll happily admit.
