They’re Kentucky boys who crossed their northern border for fame and fortune.
Now, they’re back in bluegrass country -- and living like monarchs.
Their stable mates include the famed Cigar, winner of $9.9 million in his career, two-time Breeders’ Cup winner Da Hoss, and saddlebred star CH Gypsy Supreme.
Who are they, you ask? These equine celebrities with such superstar connections are Staying Together and Western Dreamer -- the two standardbred representatives at Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of Champions.
They’ve met thousands of visitors over the years and their exploits have been relived over and over in public video presentations. Staying Together was the 1993 Horse of the Year and his 1:48.2 win that summer was the fastest race mile in history. He ended his career with nearly $1.7 million in the bank. Western Dreamer pocketed $1.8 million for his efforts and was the winner of the 1997 Triple Crown for pacers.
Today this pair enjoys what might be the greatest equine retirement setting possible. They are groomed daily, treated to the best nutrition and veterinary care, and showcased to and applauded by horse lovers from around the world.
On a regular basis, Western Dreamer is taken into the ring to be formally presented to the public as a representative of the standardbred breed. Staying Together, on the other hand, is now blind in both eyes. His handlers fear that if he hears a sudden noise while in the ring, he could spook and hurt himself. For his own safety, he has more time to relax -- lounging in a stall occupied in years past by the likes of Rambling Willie and Cam Fella.
Both are Ontario-owned -- Staying Together by Robert Hamather of Exeter and Western Dreamer by the Daly brothers (Matthew, Daniel, and Patrick) of Hamilton. Caretaker Cathy Roby says that both retired champions receive regular visits from their owners.
In living out their golden years at the Kentucky Horse Park, both geldings ironically ‘came home’ in a very real sense. Both were foaled only a few miles away at Kentuckiana Farms. Staying Together arrived in world on April 16, 1989 and Western Dreamer five years later on April 25, 1994.
Staying Together
Staying Together (‘Stanley’) was purchased as a yearling by Hamather and made his racing debut as a three-year-old at Mohawk in April 1992. It wasn’t long before he was demonstrating some extraordinary ability for trainer Jack Parsons, and driver Ross Battin.
He won in 1:56.2 in late May, the start of a streak in which he triumphed in nine of his next 10 starts, including a 1:52.4 mile at Greenwood.
Stanley kept marching up in class, taking on the best pacers of his age in Ontario, and began to attract attention from astute horsemen. One who took particular notice of this fast-rising star was Hall of Famer Bob McIntosh.
Throughout that year -- when Western Hanover, Fake Left, and Carlsbad Cam raced at the top of the sophomore pacing class -- McIntosh spread the news that there was a three-year-old racing in Toronto who, if he were eligible to these big races, would be on the front page.
McIntosh liked what he saw in Stanley and other horsemen began to express similar opinions when the horse took on open pacers like Silver Almahurst in November and whipped them in 1:53.4. A couple weeks later he was tossed in against McIntosh’s own Camluck -- who then held a 1:48.4 mark -- and finished second in a free-for-all at Mohawk.
When Camluck and Artsplace retired from McIntosh’s stable at the end of ‘92, owner Hamather passed him Stanley’s reins. “He was a made horse when I got him,” McIntosh admits. “We let his overcheck out a bit and lengthened his hopples.”
Stanley did the rest.
After two wins at Greenwood, McIntosh took the horse to the Meadowlands in March, where he won his first start in a blazing 1:50.1. And let’s just say he started to turn some heads. The gelding won 21 of his 26 starts that season, often with Bill O’Donnell in the bike.
At the Meadowlands in June, Stanley paced the fastest race mile in history and did it the hard way -- doing all the work himself on the front end. He moved to the lead at the half in 53.1, then kept going, past the next pole in 1:21 and straight to the wire in 1:48.2 with Silver Almahurst and Cambest struggling in vain to catch up.
A week later it was much the same with a win in 1:49.2. Then the gelding shipped to Chicago and won three straight at the old Sportsman’s Park track, all timed in 1:50.2. Stanley seemed invincible. And he was, practically. He only lost one race the rest of the year.
Voted North America’s Horse of the Year in 1993 over Pine Chip, Life Sign, Presidential Ball, and other notable horses, Stanley came back for more the following season. In 1994, he won six of his 28 starts, earning $262,250 -- nothing to turn up your nose at. But something wasn’t right.
“He wasn’t the same horse,” McIntosh recalls. “He’d lost his edge. He had some sesamoiditis and it showed in his performance.”
In 1995, he won just one of 11 starts, and it was becoming clear that Stanley was ready to hang up his hopples. His retirement saw him take up residence at Kentucky Horsepark, where he arrived in good health. But he soon developed uveitis in one eye, and the other eye followed shortly after.
“It looks like Stanley has cataracts, but that’s not the problem,” says Roby. “He went blind gradually, so he had time to let his other senses take over. With his temperament, which is really laid back, he’s been able to adapt really well.
“He listens to voice commands,” she explains. “If he’s running in his paddock, we’ll say, ‘Stanley, stop!’ or ‘Stanley, whoa!’ and he stops dead in his tracks. He has a step coming out of his stall and we’ll say, ‘step up’ or ‘step down’ and he listens.”
He’s an easy keeper, Roby adds, and requires no special nutrition, though they do watch his feed to keep him from getting too heavy. “He loves peppermints,” she laughs. “When we trained him to voice commands as he was going blind, we gave him treats. Now you have to watch him – he’ll nibble at your hands or pockets looking for treats.”
Though McIntosh has trained many superstar pacers in his career, this one holds a special place in his heart. “In many ways, Staying Together was like an old-time Standardbred --- a little coarse,” he says. “He was a plain brown horse and not real flashy, but he was great-gaited and had high speed.”
Western Dreamer
Western Dreamer’s freshman season was impressive by many standards -- he won twice in 10 starts, snagged a 1:55.1 clocking and earned $41,130. But it wasn’t enough for owner George Segal (who paid $50,000 for him as a yearling) to justify keeping the gelding in his power-packed pacing string.
So the young horse went through the Harrisburg sale in the fall of 1996 for $125,000 and became the property of the Daly brothers, who passed him along to trainer Bill Robinson. It didn’t take long for the horse to improve -- he won his first start by nine lengths in 1:54.3 at Mohawk.
He was, however, a long way from being one of the top sophomore pacers. Western Dreamer dropped seven straight races and then finished seventh in his North America Cup elimination. He made a friend, though, when he rebounded to win the consolation in 1:52 for Mike Lachance. The pair was practically inseparable for the remainder of the season, and the only other driver to sit behind the gelding was David Miller.
With Robinson’s assistant Nat Varty often handling the training duties in the States, Western Dreamer slowly began to move up the ranks. He was second in his Meadowlands Pace eliminations and third in the final behind Dream Away and At Point Blank.
The gelding was gaining a reputation as a contender and seemed to have developed an enthusiasm for racing. He thrived on the competition. So well, in fact, that he went on a six-race winning streak that included the Art Rooney and the Cane Pace, both at Yonkers. In the Little Brown Jug, Western Dreamer scored in his elimination by a neck over The Wiz, and returned in the final to win by five lengths.
He now had two legs of the Triple Crown, and the third leg -- the Messenger, contested that year at The Meadows -- loomed just weeks away.
The night began poorly. Western Dreamer dropped his elimination heat to Dream Away after setting modest fractions. The horse paced right past him as Western Dreamer faded to third. But things brightened when the gelding drew the rail for the final. Driver Lachance let Perfect Art get the early lead, but then moved his star to the front before the first quarter.
He reached the half easily in 56.2 and picked up the pace on the backstretch. Lachance never gave Western Dreamer a chance to relax as he drew off to win by open lengths in 1:51.3, making the gelding the first horse since Ralph Hanover 14 years earlier to polish harness racing’s Triple Crown.
Lady luck refused to smile on Western Dreamer in the Breeders Crown, where he was seventh, or in the Windy City pace where he failed to make the final. But he earned $1,349,401 as a sophomore nevertheless, with his final start in 1997 coming exactly one year after the Dalys shelled out just $125,000 at Harrisburg.
The next year the gelding dropped his mark to 1:49 in a win at the Meadowlands and earned $315,505. Like Staying Together, his career then cooled as he earned $98,990 as a five-year-old and was retired after banking just $7,150 in six starts in 2000.
Upon his arrival at Kentucky Horsepark, it was clear he carried some of his racetrack habits through to retirement. “He’s always been a kicker,” says Roby. “You just have to be careful when you’re around him. I understand he was a kicker on the track, too, and they had to take the sulky off him in the winner’s circle.”
His companion, she says, is the sweet one. But Western Dreamer does have a redeeming quality, Roby adds. He’s a striking beauty.
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With the resounding dominance of super-stallions, champion geldings are all too soon forgotten after retirement. But Staying Together and Western Dreamer, it seems, have dodged that fate. They’ve had the best of everything -- and judging by their accomplishments on the track, it’s all well deserved.