Stockade Seelster stamped himself as one of the best two-year-old pacing colts in the history of the Ontario Sires Stakes with another impressive performance in Saturday's $225,000 Gold Super Final at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Jody Jamieson had the son of State Treasurer away third in the early going and watched Moment Is Here pace by the opening quarter in :26.3. Jamieson pulled on the right line just past that point and was comfortably on top at the :54.2 half. Stockade Seelster opened a couple of lengths by the 1:22 three-quarters and simply could not be caught down the lane as he hit the wire in 1:50.1, paying $2.30 for the win.
Santana Hanover was second followed by Sounds Good. Moment Is Here and Write Me A Rose were next across.
“You put $200,000 on the line and we’re going to race for it and we did,” said Jamieson. “It just goes to show he’s a great horse and I can ride as fast as he can go. There’s really no end to him. He was a little tired, he’d been off three weeks. Doc [Moore] had him great tonight.”
Stockade Seelster now has eight wins in nine starts this year. His lone loss was a third-place finish in the Metro Pace elimination.
He returned the following week to win the $900,000 Metro Pace final, defeating many of the top Grand Circuit freshman pacing colts. He ends the OSS season undefeated in five provincial-bred starts, four Gold events at Mohawk and the Super Final.
Bred by Seelster Farms, Stockade Seelster was purchased as a yearling for $45,000 by Sally Macdonald of P.E.I. and her nephew Paul Macdonald of Toronto, who were quite familiar with his sire State Treasurer, having owned him throughout his racing career.
They purchased State Treasurer as a yearling for a mere $6,500 and he went on to win more than $2 million. Dr. Ian Moore trained State Treasurer, who stands stud at Seelster Farms. He also handles Stockade Seelster.
“I was concerned that he may be a little short tonight,” said Moore. “It’s very difficult with a two-year-old late in the year especially when you consider that he’s had the harness on for one year now -- he started in October of last year. You wouldn’t do that with an aged horse.
“I gave him a whole week off and then we jogged him one week. Jody trained him on the Friday when I was down in P.E.I. for my daughter’s wedding and we trained him again on Thursday this week,” said Moore. “So, I was concerned and maybe that’s why the last quarter wasn’t so quick but he got the job done and hopefully should be ready for the Breeders Crown, that’s our next step.”
As for the Breeders Crown, eliminations for which start next weekend at the Campbellville oval, Doc Moore said, “It’s getting late, that’s nine starts now, 10 is a good number for me. He seemed good tonight and if he comes out of it fine on Monday or Tuesday when I jog him then we’ll put in for the Breeders Crown and we’re looking forward to it.”
Allan Macdonald, Sally’s husband, commented, “It’s unbelievable, my wife always called State Treasurer a horse of a lifetime but it kind of looks like maybe we’ve done it again. It’s incredible, just incredible to be here and see what he’s done, he’s a really nice colt. I was extremely nervous here tonight because he had the three-week layoff. He stepped up, we’re very proud of him.”
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Ontario Racing)