Molski hoping for a sweet latte in Crown elims

Clara Molski is waiting nervously--waiting like an anxious parent whose child is ready to step onto the stage in their first school play--however, it won’t be a child--but a horse--that will have all of her attention Friday night as the enthusiastic owner-operator of Dreamland Farms of Cream Ridge, N.J. will travel to the Meadowlands to watch her homebred filly, Dreamlands Latte, vie for a berth in the final of the $650,000 Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Filly Pace.

The freshman daughter of Artsplace has been assigned the outside slot in the field of nine for this weekend’s elim and will be racing on the bleeder medication Lasix for the first time in her brief career.

“I’m a happy-nervous right now,” Molski, 52, said. “We feel so privileged and honored to be in a Breeders Crown event. It’s another dream come true for us.”

Molski, along with her husband, David, built Dreamlands Farm shortly after they began their foray into the harness racing business back in 1992. The 105-acre facility includes a half-mile training track, a knee-high exercise pool, and an equisizor.

“We were both very involved in the farm,” she remembered. “David was a very active owner—he didn’t just pay the bills, he had dialogue daily with our trainers, the vets and everyone involved with the horses.”

Tragically, David was killed in a car accident this past July. Despite losing her husband and best friend, Clara has forged ahead.

“David worked so hard at raising these babies,” she recalled. “The night before he died we watched one of our horses—Dreamlands Broadway—win a race at the Meadowlands. I told him that night that he had really done a good job and that he should be proud of himself—it was one of the last things I ever said to him.”

Presiding over the farm, the racehorses and the babies--as well as a display sign company in Elizabeth, N.J.--is what keeps Molski busy these days.

“There’s so much to this horse business that I know now that I didn’t know when we first got involved,” she said. “We had friends that were in the business in the early 1990s and they encouraged us to buy a piece of a horse. David said at the time that we’d never make any money with these horses. Well, the first horse we bought part of was Yankee Dreamboat—who ended up winning the Goldsmith Maid for us. That was it, we were hooked.”

One of the couple’s first broodmares was a Big Towner mare, Breeders Crown champion Hardie Hanover, whom the Molski’s bought at the Standardbred Horse Sale at Harrisburg. That mare’s second foal was christened Dreamlands Hardie p,3,1:54.3 ($29,579), a daughter of Jenna’s Beach Boy.

“We raced Dreamlands Hardie, but she got hurt, so we retired her early and made her a broodmare,” Molski remembered. “Dreamlands Latte is her third foal.”

Dreamlands Latte is a full sister to Kisskissbangbang p,3,1:57f ($145,693) and a half sister to Livestrong (by Artiscape) p,3,1:50.4 ($385,251).

Molski names all of the Dreamland foals, and this season’s 2 year olds are no exception.

“I saw these babies standing in the field, and I just loved her coloring and she reminded me of a latte,” Clara laughed. “We also have a 2-year-old trotting gelding that I named Dreamlands Expresso for that same reason. I try to have themes with my names. Last year it was baseball, this year it’s coffee.”

Trainer Bob Baggitt broke Dreamlands Latte, and conditioned her to win three legs and the $85,000 final of her New Jersey Sire Stakes division at Freehold. 

“It was so exciting,” she said. “I’m sure the people in the winner’s circle got sick of me because she won every week there at Freehold for four weeks. I would be there yelling for her, ‘come on Latte, come on!’ It was just so great to see her win—it’s not the money as much as just the achievement by the horse.”

Dreamlands Latte comes into her Breeders Crown with $116,812 in earnings from five wins, a pair of seconds and one third in nine career starts.

“Gabrielle did well for us,” she recalled. “She was later bought by Fair Winds Farm for breeding purposes.”

Gabrielle became a successful broodmare, and is the dam of Won The West p,3,1:49.1 ($602,974), who supplemented to this year’s Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Colt Pace.

“The horses are what keep me going,” Clara added. “With five dogs, four cats, 30 horses and an outside business to run, I stay busy, but ultimately, it’s my animals that make the difference.” (edited from Breeders Crown)

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