Photo by Lisa Photo - Lambeth Media

DREAMING IN TECHNICOLOUR
He’d cost them $62,000, making him
the most expensive yearling sold at auction
in Quebec that year. And he was the
only one of the three they bought to ever
race.
Not that he looked like a bargain
early on. “He was wild and dangerous at
two," Beaulieu said. "He hit two of my
employees on the head. He just wanted to
kick everybody. That's why we cut him."
Growing pains and general immaturity
limited Slave Dream to six starts in
Montreal at two, of which he won one.
"He grew a lot that year and I think that
explains his occasional breaks," said
Beaulieu.
The gelding missed the major event
for Quebec-sired two-year-old trotters,
the Coupe de l’Avenir final, because he
hadn’t accumulated sufficient points in
stakes events. He did qualify for the
$35,000 consolation, unleashing his now
customary flying finish to get second.
“That's just him,” said Beaulieu.
"That's just the way he wants to race, coming
from the back."
He was a much improved horse at
three, winning two sires stakes early in
September 2010 • The Harness Edge
The connections of Slave Dream pose in the winner's circle at the Meadowlands
on Hambletonian day after their trotter's dramatic victory in the $300,000 Nat
Ray which may be watched by clicking on the video icon.
the season, but the Quebec racing industry
suddenly imploded. Most of the sires
stakes program was scuttled, including
the annual highlight, the Coupe des
Eleveurs.
“There wasn’t much for him,” Cianci
said. “We hadn’t staked him elsewhere.”
Needing a place with conditions suitable
to his large stable, Beaulieu shipped
to Rockingham Park in New Hampshire,
where Slave Dream competed against a
tough group of older horses.
He started his four-year-old campaign
with Beaulieu at Pompano Park, setting a
track record for trotting geldings (1:55)
and hitting the board in the open class in
seven consecutive starts, three of them
wins. Beaulieu then tried him at the Meadowlands,
sending him to the New Jersey
track for the Hiram Woodruff series, in the
care of trainer Pierre Couture, a former
Beaulieu employee who actually qualified
the horse in Montreal at two.
Slave Dream won two eliminations
and then the $46,500 final, by a nose, in
1:53.2 with John Campbell in the sulky.
“That’s when we saw he had great
potential,” Cianci said. Others did too.
Cianci said they turned down an offer of
$500,000 at that point.
They were hoping the gelding would
climb another rung in the 2009 Maple
Leaf Trot, but he finished fifth to Sakic
Seelster in his elimination and didn’t
advance.
That race nonetheless was a turning
point for Slave Dream. Cianci and Russo
felt the horse should remain in Ontario
and compete on the elite Woodbine
Entertainment Group circuit. Beaulieu
wasn’t ready to travel. Soon after, they
parted ways.
“It wasn’t bitter. We’re on good terms
still,” Cianci said. “Jean and his wife
(Micheline Gaudet) are great people. He
helped us a lot. If Jean had moved to
Photo by Lisa Photo