Woodbine Mohawk Park: Stockade Seelster stars in OSS Gold Series

Three-year-old pacers of both sexes raced in Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series tests on Friday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park, and Stockade Seelster garnered the lion's share of the headlines after winning the C$158,100 dash for the colts and geldings in a life's-best 1:48 4/5.

Driven by Jody Jamieson, Stockade Seelster floated out from post four, pressed forward on the rim, and wound up two-wide until after the 53 2/5 half when he was finally able to wrestle command away from Verdun (Louis-Philippe Roy). From there, Stockade Seelster put three-quarters on the board in 1:21, repelled a challenge by Moment Is Here (James MacDonald) in the upper part of the stretch, and went on to win by a length and a quarter over 68-1 shot Macs Delight. Moment Is Here wound up third.

"This horse does nothing but impress every week. A couple of times he hasn't been maybe up to his game and a couple of times he just wasn't as fast as he needed to be. He's tough, and he proved that time at Pocono (a second-place finish to Confederate in the Hempt despite being parked the mile)," Jamieson said. "I just kind of took my time getting there, even though it was still a fast half. He's going to have to go in 53 to the half to go a mile in 1:48. James gave him a little scare up the outside there, and he just dug in and goes. He's an awesome horse."

Trained by Dr. Ian Moore, Stockade Seelster, a State Treasurer colt bred by Seelster Farms and owned by Sally and Paul MacDonald, has 14 wins and earnings of C$1,334,391. He paid $3.10 to win as the 1-2 favorite.

In the opening C$101,300 tilt for the fillies, 16-1 shot Mist Amber (Sylvain Filion) was last at the 26 3/5 quarter, 55 half and 1:23 2/5 three-quarters, but Filion fanned her out widest for the drive, and Mist Amber powered home in 26 1/5 to get up and win by a head in 1:50 3/5. Lady Get Lucky (Trevor Henry) and One Last Wish (Paul MacDonell) rounded out the trifecta.

"I never sat behind her, and you know what, I never really looked at her races or stuff like that. It was out of the blue," remarked Filion. "I just went with the flow, and they were pacing pretty good up front. Around the last turn, she kind of swelled up, so I thought maybe we have a shot. She dug in."

John Pentland owns and trains Mist Amber, a daughter of Betterthancheddar bred by Greg Merlo. She has a record of 7-5-1 from 25 appearances, has banked C$115,536 and returned $34.80 to win.

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It's a rare day when the combination of James MacDonald and Nick Gallucci hits at 24-1, but that's what happened in the other C$101,300 flight for the girls as Savethelastdance worked out a third-over journey off panels of 26 4/5, 56 3/5 and 1:24 and produced a 26 3/5 final panel to pace past her foes and prevail by a length and three-quarters in 1:51 3/5. Ima Doll (Tyler Borth) was next, followed by Talk Curdy To Me (Roy).

"This is the shock of the year so far to be honest with you," Gallucci stated with a laugh. "I'm still in disbelief. She really surprised us tonight."

The Millar Farms homebred by Bettor's Delight has been victorious in half of her 12 lifetime starts and has put away C$232,534. She paid $50.00 to win.