Woodbine Mohawk Park: New Holland finals won by Poseidon Seelster, Special Mission

Poseidon Seelster won a tight thriller, while Special Mission posted an impressive score in Saturday's New Holland Series finals at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

The two New Holland Series events ended on Saturday night with a C$70,000 final in the pacing division and C$71,000 final on the trotting side.

Poseidon Seelster flashed early speed, ended up in a pocket trip and slipped up the rail to win in a four-horse photo in the New Holland Pacing Series final. Tyler Moore steered the Don Lindsey trainee.

The raced opened with a hot 26 1/5 quarter courtesy of Poseidon Seelster and Whichwaytothebeach, who cleared entering the backstretch. After posting panels of 55 1/5 and 1:22 4/5, Whichwaytothebeach carried the lead to the eighth pole before being swarmed. At the wire, Poseidon Seelster prevailed by a nose over a shaking-loose Century Heineken, while Whichwaytothebeach and Frankie Frankie finished third and fourth by a neck.

A 7-year-old gelding, Poseidon Seelster now has three wins in 11 starts this season. The Lindsey trainee was sixth and second in the New Holland preliminary legs. Saturday's win boosts his career numbers to 18 wins and over C$659,000 in earnings for owners Lindsey, Paul Kleinpaste, William Alempijevic and Garth Bechtel. Poseidon Seelster paid $22.90 to win.

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The Blair Burgess-trained Special Mission blew his rivals out with a victory by 4 1/4 lengths in 1:52 3/5 in the New Holland Trotting Series final.

Driver Jody Jamieson made his move with Special Mission approaching the half, angling out from sixth to come first-up. The 5-year-old kept marching up, overtaking leader Pikachu Hanover. Special Mission opened on the field to win easily and equaled his career-best clocking in the process. Handsome Sebastian finished second, while Franks Angel was third.

Special Mission improved to five wins in eight starts this season with Saturday's victory. The Burgess trainee has now made C$76,520 this season for owners Daniel Roland and Bred Winr Stables. His career statistics now read nine wins and over C$100,000 earned. A $2 win ticket on Speical Mission returned $7.80.

Saturday night's card also saw an accident occur in the 11th race.

Three-year-old gelding Brigus and driver Sylvain Filion made contact with the wheel of Vis A Vis Bluechip in the stretch drive, causing Brigus to fall to the track. Four-year-old gelding Holy Jalapeno and driver Phil Hudon were unable to avoid the fallen horse and also fell to the track.

Both horses got up from the accident and are reported to be okay.

Hudon was examined on track and sent to a local hospital for further evaluation as a precaution. Filion got up and walked off the track under his own power.

Woodbine extends best wishes to all those involved in the spill.

--press release (Woodbine Mohawk Park)--