Three-year-old pacing filly Sorcha Seelster capped off a training triple for John Pentland, winning the featured finale on Friday night, Nov. 29 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Following victories by stablemates Dirty Diana and Cheesy Smile earlier on the 10-race program, Sorcha Seelster took the evening's top $24,000 fillies and mares conditioned pace. Bob McClure, a four-time Friday winner, drove all three of Pentland's successful starters.
Sorcha Seelster advanced first-over from mid-field down the backstretch to strike in the stretch then held off Stonebridge Halo (James MacDonald) and Century Jamila (Jonathan Drury) when those two found late racing room in the 1:54.2 mile. The All Bets Off-Soiree Seelster filly, who has put together a six-figure season after making just two starts as a freshman, earned her third straight win. She is owned by Pentland along with R C Molyneux Racing, Peter Charlton and Archie Leach.
Making the final start of her career, Cheesy Smile went out a winner, scoring from off the pace in 1:55.1. The four-year-old Betterthancheddar-Frame Worthy mare will be retiring from racing to Princeton Farms for breeding. An O'Brien Award finalist in her 2022 sophomore season highlighted by a victory in the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final, Cheesy Smile is a nine-time winner from 50 career starts with earnings totalling $564,295. She is also owned by Pentland, R C Molyneux Racing, Charlton and Leach.
Two-year-old pacing filly Dirty Diana (Captain Crunch-Delightful Dragon) was a wire-to-wire winner in 1:57 to improve to two-for-six in her young career for Pentland and co-owners Aaron Waxman and Alan Alber.
With his three victories on Friday, Pentland achieved a new career-high for wins in a single season, topping his 33-win season from 2022. The Dorchester, Ont. horseman has trained winners of 447 races and more than $10.2 million lifetime.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada; Photo of Sorcha Seelster winning on Nov. 29)