It was a Hollywood ending on Boxing Day for veteran pacing mare Kendall Seelster, who rallied to an impressive victory in what was her final career start for trainer Rod Boyd.
The 1:53.3 tally versus conditioned company at Woodbine Mohawk Park put the exclamation point on a career that saw her win 34 races while potting earnings in excess of $1.2 million for 1187422 Ontario Inc of Ottawa, Ont.
The six-year-old daughter of Shadow Play-Kiddie Cocktail will now head into the second stage of her career as a broodmare, and with that comes a date in the breeding shed with the multi-talented Mcwicked.
“We thought about quitting with her while COVID was going on, but the owners wanted to keep plugging on there,” Boyd told Trot Insider about the decision making process with the mare. “But we had a good discussion about retiring her, and it was the right time for sure. They're going to keep whatever comes out of her, but they wanted to stick in Ontario [to breed] which is fantastic. You know, they had every opportunity to probably go anywhere they wanted but it's nice. They stayed here.”
Tough, talented and tenacious are just three good words one could use to describe Kendall Seelster, who overcame her share of obstacles throughout her career.
“She did have knee surgery in which they pretty much just cleaned up all the cartilage and what not in her knee,” claimed Boyd. “It was after her four-year-old year, but she came back pretty strong. She's made over $100,000 every year, and she made it all in Ontario...every cent of it, so that's pretty cool.”
Finding a replacement in the barn won’t be an easy task for Boyd, who has an incredible admiration for the Ontario Sires Stakes graduate. Her biggest stakes win came at two, when she defeated Percy Bluechip and Kissin In The Sand in a division of the Champlain Stakes. She also won multiple OSS events at and three, qualified for the Milton Stakes final against older rivals as a sophomore, then went on to capture 14 Preferred paces at Woodbine Mohawk Park — including four Preferred events at Mohawk as a three-year-old and a Preferred against male rivals as a four-year-old.
“Paul Reid did an amazing job with her at two and three and then I took over, she's just a champion,” he stated. “I mean, she just she loves to chase horses down. She was definitely not at her best on Boxing Day, it was all guts and memory I think of passing those horses. It was nice.
“I think it's like any good horse, every time she stepped on the track she wanted to compete,” he added. “She was excellent about chasing down horses and that's what she wanted to do. She’s not the biggest horse, like if you walked in my barn you wouldn't find her. You'd be thinking of a big, strong horse. She's not that big, but like I say she loves to race and she's easy going. And in the barn she takes care of herself.”
It’s those types of qualities that anyone would admire in a horse, and Boyd is hopeful that Kendall Seelster will pass on some of her great qualities to her offspring. He’s also hopeful he’ll be along for the ride when it comes time to racing her youngsters.
“They're very good people,” claimed Boyd about the owners of Kendall Seelster. “Paul Reid and I did the best with Kendall, so hopefully one of us gets a shot at one of the babies.”
What a Tough mare. All the
What a Tough mare. All the Best in her new career :)
Yes, she was a game mare when
Yes, she was a game mare when feeling right and in the right company. Interesting pick of McArdle for the first breeding. Shadow Plays can be choppy and so can anything to do with Falcon Seelster, but sometimes a little unusual can make a special. Good luck to the connections.