Grand River: Galen Erso, Sprite Seelster victorious in OSS Gold Series

Galen Erso and Sprite Seelster were the respective winners of Wednesday's (July 16) Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series events for sophomore trotters at Grand River Raceway. Both trotters were sired by Green Manalishi.

Galen Erso won the lone C$140,000 test for the boys and Sprite Seelster took the single C$140,000 final for fillies.

The colts and geldings were up first in race four. The event attracted a field of seven.

Lookatmegoamigo (Louis-Philippe Roy), Fast Snap (Chris Christoforou), Galen Erso (Doug McNair) and P L Spencer (Bob McClure) all pushed off the gate with authority and led the field, in that order, through fractions of 27 and 56 4/5. That's when McNair put Galen Erso into gear with McClure following his lead with P L Spencer. Those two led in that order through the 1:24 3/5 three-quarters and then the battle was on in the stretch.

Ultimately, Galen Erso (7-1) prevailed by a neck over P L Spencer, the 3-5 favorite, in 1:54 1/5, with Lmc Wagon Wheel (Tyler Borth) swooping up to snatch third-place away from Lookatmegoamigo. Fast Snap was fifth.

It was the fourth lifetime Gold win for Galen Erso, who was a three-time Gold victor in 2024, but finished fifth and ninth in his two previous Gold tries this year.

The win improved Galen Erso to 3-1-0 in seven 2025 starts and 6-3-1 in 14 career outings and upped his seasonal bankroll to C$164,606 and his lifetime haul to C$365,274.

The son of Green Manalishi, out of Wygant Princess, was bred by Marcus Melander, is owned by Brad Grant and is trained by Gregg McNair.

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A field of eight contested the Gold event for sophomore fillies, which went as race seven on the card.

Exquisite Taste (Roy), followed by Lil Sweet (Doug McNair), Sprite Seelster (Borth) and Roxie Hart (Travis Cullen) led the field to the 26 3/5 quarter. As the field passed the grandstand for the first time, Borth had Sprite Seelster out and rolling. He controlled the race from there through the 56 second half and the 1:24 4/5 three-quarters and defeated Exquisite Taste by a half-length in 1:54. Stormont Beautiful (McClure) flew home to get third, followed by Roxie Hart and Lil Sweet.

It was the second Gold triumph of the year for the daughter of Green Manalishi-Speak Of The Devil bred by Seelster Farms, owned by Elite Equine LLC. and her driver, Borth, and trained by Katie McNeil.

The win improved Sprite Seelster to 3-2-2 in 7 starts this year and 4-3-2 in 14 lifetime outings. Her bankroll improved to C$192,001 in 2025 and C$240,348 lifetime.

Sprite Seelster was sold as a yearling for C$40,000 at the 2023 London Classic Yearling Sale.

--press release (Ontario Sires Stakes)--