Dan Patch and O'Brien Award winner Stockade Seelster made his 2023 debut on Friday (April 14) morning in a qualifier at Southern Oaks Training Center.
Trainer Ian Moore drove Stockade Seelster in the morning qualifiers against a field of two of his other trainees.
"Everything went pretty good for Stockade," said Moore. "I got a different check bit in his mouth now and he seems to be quite relaxed. I was able to sit in to the half, my holders were back a little further. I couldn't hold him."
Moore had Stockade Seelster in the pocket through the quarter in :26.3 before pulling first over at the half in :55. The three-year-old son of State Treasurer advanced to a seven-length advantage at the three-quarters in 1:23 before winning by nine lengths in 1:52.4.
"He was real good. Very strong. I didn't get the fast mile in last week that I wanted when I was training him because I had somebody else cut the half and went too slow, but he handled it pretty good."
Stockade Seelster will qualify again next week (April 21) while setting sights on his first stake race in the SBOA Stakes.
"The plan is to come back next week and qualify him again and go from there. The only part about this is that we're a month away from his first race, but can't help that. They had qualifiers on the seventh, 14th and 21st, and I always like to get one or two of the qualifiers here especially when I am shipping later this year. Probably won't be time enough to get a qualifier or race in before that first stake race."
In his freshman year, Stockade Seelster posted a record of 8-0-2 in 11 starts with $917,470 in earnings. His accolades include a six-race win streak in the Ontario Sires Stakes Gold legs and Dream Maker Series elimination and final, a victory in the Metro Pace final, and a victory in the Super Final. The only finish out of top three for the colt was a fourth-place finish in the $810,000 Breeders Crown final.