Driver Sylvain Filion worked out a perfect second over trip aboard Slave Dream to capture the $161,250 Tara Hills Frank Ryan Memorial Trot on Sunday night at Rideau Carleton Raceway.

Define The World (Paul MacDonell) fired off the gate from Post 1 in the 46th edition of the Frank Ryan and rolled through fractions of :27.4 and :56.3 untested with Armbro Chronicle (Mike Saftic), Triumphant Caviar (Luc Ouellette) and Slave Dream following in the top spots.

Just past the halfway point, Ouellette sent the popular Triumphant Caviar first up with Slave Dream following his cover, however, Triumphant Caviar rolled off stride before he could clear.

Define The World carried on reaching three-quarters in 1:24.3 with Slave Dream rolling up to press the pace and Armbro Chronicle hot on his heels. As the field turned for home, Slave Dream kicked away by over three lengths with a :28.4 final frame to score in 1:53.3. Armbro Chronicle finished second with Define The World six and three-quarter lengths behind in third.

The time of the mile lowered Abbey Road C's 1:55 track record for aged trotting geldings and was three-fifths of a second off the all-age trotting mark held by Majestic Son.

“We had a perfect second over trip and when Luc’s horse made a break my horse felt real strong,” commented Filion after the win.

Slave Dream paid $7.00 to win as the 5-2 third choice. The five-year-old son of Pearsall Hanover-Hungarie F is trained by Frank O’Reilly for owners Franco Cianci of St. Laurent and Isidoro Russo of Montreal, QC. The win was his second of the season in seven outings following a victory in the Nat Ray at the Meadowlands on Hambletonian Day. The lion’s share of the purse pushed his earnings to $340,965 for 2010 and $704,596 lifetime.

“The race worked out perfect for him,” said O’Reilly. “Sylvain got him away good and he was following what I thought was the horse to beat, Luc Ouellette, and then he helped us out and made a break going up the backside. To be quite honest, that didn’t hurt my feelings a whole lot. Then through the last turn, I could see Sylvain was sitting on him and I thought he had lots left. He drew up alongside of Bax’s horse and I thought he was getting the job done then.”

“A lot of my family is here and a lot of my roots are here,” noted O’Reilly. “It’s over the top!”

“It mean a whole lot [to come back here and win this race],” added an emotional Filion. “It’s very special. I always dreamed of winning this race and we finally did it, and you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Frank. He did a great job.”