In his office at Woodbine Racetrack, Jim Lawson has a large portrait of his family’s wonderful racemare Eternal Search he views with pride.

Memories of the champion, raced by his father Mel’s Jim Dandy Stable, came flooding back for Woodbine’s president and CEO when his own two-year-old filly Mrs. Barbara raced to victory in the Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes on November 27. Jim and his wife, Sue, stood proudly with Mrs. Barbara, a granddaughter of Eternal Search, who is named for his mother.

The story of how Mrs. Barbara came to be can only be described as one of fate. You see, Lawson had lost touch with his father’s champion mare Destroy, the dam of Mrs. Barbara, for years before he happened upon her in January 2019, offered for sale at the age of 22.

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