from Western Fair Media Relations

London, ON — “She’s simply the best,” a jubilant John Lamers said minutes after his homebred Dreamfair Eternal captured the C$167,000 Forest City Pace Final at Western Fair on Saturday night (Oct. 30) despite not having her regular driver in the bike.

Randy Waples, who has driven Dreamfair Eternal in all of her starts in 2010, was unable to be at the London track to drive her due to illness. The mare’s trainer Pat Fletcher quickly called two-time O’Brien Award winner as Canada’s Driver of the Year, Chris Christoforou, who was coming to London to guide Code Word in the Ontario Sires Stakes elimination earlier on the card.

“I got a couple of calls real quick, just before I was going to leave the house. I was pretty happy to hear (Randy’s) misfortune was my good fortune,” said Christoforou. “I was lucky to get the drive on her, I’m very happy to drive her.”

He proved a very adequate last minute replacement.

Iron Horse Photo

Dreamfair Eternal was a 1:54.3 winner on Saturday at Western Fair.

When the race started four mares left hard for control with Rick Zeron and A Ps Money Maker retaining their number one spot from the rail in the early going. Elimination winner Voelz Hanover was flying from post seven early but broke stride on the first turn and was never a factor.

A Ps Money Maker clipped past the opening quarter in :28.1 but Christoforou wasn’t content to leave her on top and tipped Dreamfair Eternal out from fourth and quickly swept up to take the lead. She cruised through middle splits of :58 and 1:26.2 and was home first in 1:54.3. Arts Diva gave game chase down the lane for Paul MacDonell to grab second while Lady Latte was third. Artimmittateslife was fourth and Call Me Yours grabbed the last check.

A Ps Money Maker, who was very impressive finishing second to Dreamfair Eternal last week in their elimination after cutting the mile, pulled up and did not finish. She was checked by the track vet soon afterwards and appeared to be fine.

After the winner’s circle presentation by the track’s special guest, TSN co-host Jennifer Hedger, Christoforou said: “I have to thank everybody involved, John, Pat, Randy too. He gave me a few pointers with her because she’s not the easiest to drive on a half-mile track. She just showed what kind of a world champion she is tonight.”

When track announcer Greg Blanchard asked if he was surprised that Dreamfair Eternal went by the leader without much effort just past the opening quarter the driver responded: “I didn’t like the way Rick’s mare paced the first turn, she didn’t look good to me. I thought if I took a bit of a run at him Rick was sensible enough to let me go. I was pretty confident I’d clear and if not I was pretty confident I’d run him down either way.

“She’s just that kind of a mare, she’s push button, she’s like a Ferrari.”

It was a great local victory in the second annual Forest City Final as Lamers is from nearby Ingersoll where he got the call tonight telling him his regular driver would not be available to drive his prize performer.

“Pat called me about quarter to five this evening and said ‘we’ve got some bad news, Randy’s not going to be able to make it.’ I knew that Randy was under the weather for the last few days; he was sick and booked off a bunch of races this past week. He said he felt terrible, he apologized for not coming and he wished Chris the best. I’m to give him a call in a few minutes. He just loves the mare,” said Lamers.

The owner also indicated that the Dreamfair Eternal will return to the races next year.

“She’ll tell me when she’s had enough, we’ll definitely bring her back next year and I think she’ll be ultra good. We didn’t race her much as a 2- and 3-year-old so we saved her for the last of her career.”

Dreamfair Eternal, a 6-year-old daughter of Camluck, now has 14 wins in 20 starts this year. The victory put her earnings at $885,995 for the year and at nearly $1.6 million lifetime.

Stonebridge Tonic establishes new track record

Stonebridge Tonic pulled an upset in the C$40,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold elimination at Western Fair and established a new track record of 1:52.4 in the process.

Doug McNair had Stonebridge Tonic flying from post seven to grab the front before the field reached the first turn. He took his rivals past the opening marker in :27.1 and at that point Mario Baillargeon had Big Bay Point out from third to challenge.

Big Bay Point took over the lead at the :55.2 half, was still on top at the 1:23.2 three-quarters, but as the field straightened out for home McNair had his colt out from the pocket position and Stonebridge Tonic cruised on by to trip the teletimer in 1:52.4.

The previous record for 3-year-old pacing colts over Western Fair’s half-mile surface was 1:53.1 which was co-held by Stormaway and Whooly Louy.

Big Bay Point was a game second while Dalhousie Dave was third. Red Bugler was scratched, reducing the field to eight horses.

It was the third win this year for Stonebridge Tonic, a son of Camluck owned by trainer Gregg McNair and breeder Angie Stiller along with Artana Stables and Len Gamble. He now has $172,084 earned to date in 2010. He came into the contest in fifth place in the point standings in this division.

The colts will return to contest the C$130,000 Gold Final next Saturday night at Western Fair, a program which also includes the finals for the Middlesex Series. The draw was made following the elimination and the field will line up as follows: 1. Dalhousie Dave, 2. Keystone Raptor, 3. Windsong Gorgeous, 4. Big Bay Point, 5. Stonebridge Tonic, 6. Mach Dreamer, 7. Future Million and 8. Code Word. This is the final OSS Gold event for this group in their careers with just the Super Final left on November 13 at Woodbine.