Campbellville, ON --- Dreamfair Eternal, last year’s Canadian Horse of the Year, and driver Randall Waples scored an eye-catching victory in the final strides of the C$385,000 Roses Are Red at Mohawk.
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| New Image Media |
| Dreamfair Eternal prevailed ... narrowly ... in the Roses Are Red on Saturday at Mohawk |
Warrawee Koine (Andy Miller) left aggressively from post 10 and was in command past the opening panel in :26.2. Heading towards the half, Ultimate Velocity wasn’t content in the two hole as she moved to the front, but that wouldn’t last long as the post time favorite, Anndrovette, was on the move and cleared to the front past a :54.3 half-mile.
Heading into the far turn, Dreamfair Eternal was on the move first-over with Blissful Smile (Scott Zeron) tracking her. As the mares past three-quarters in 1:22.3, Anndrovette was still in command with Dreamfair Eternal looming on the outside. Into mid-stretch, Anndrovette and Dreamfair Eternal were strides apart with Laughandbehappy making a bid from the backfield.
With a sixteenth of a mile to go, Dreamfair Eternal poked a nose in front, scoring the victory in 1:50 over the hard-closing Laughandbehappy with Anndrovette finishing third.
Following the race, Waples wasn’t even sure if he found the winner’s circle.
"I thought Jody (Jamieson with Laughandbehappy) got me by a nose," Waples said about the two time O’Brien Award winner. "I knew it was really close. Usually you can match them up by wheels and I thought his were a little further ahead than mine. I never really realized it until I saw Pat (trainer Pat Fletcher) heading out on the track so that gave me a pretty good feeling.
“She’s obviously got a really big heart,” he said. “For some reason, there are certain horses out there that seem to thrive first over and she’s one of them. She always gives me a good race. “
Owned by John Lamers, Dreamfair Eternal now boasts career earnings of C$2,065,475.
