The glamour boys touched down in Ottawa on Sunday, Aug. 13 for a $157,200 Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold division at Rideau Carleton Raceway, and Stockade Seelster was victorious in an impressive effort from the outside post position.
The reigning king of the OSS suffered his first defeat in the provincial program on July 22 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, but would not to be denied on this occasion.
Jody Jamieson and the son of State Treasurer left hard from post eight, beating out fellow quick leavers Moment Is Here (James MacDonald) and Macs Delight (Jonathan Drury) to make the front just as the field was exiting the far turn.
“I expected to take about a three-eighths park before I could get there,” said Jamieson. “But three steps out of the wings it looked like I was going to be able to cross over pretty easy, and from there he kind of did his own thing. He just wasn’t getting beat tonight.”
Stockade Seelster’s margin grew as large as two lengths as he led the field through fractions of :26.4, :55 and 1:22.3, while Moment Is Here stalked in the pocket. MacDonald angled his pacer to the inside in the stretch but fell a half-length short of overtaking his rival.
“Around the last turn, I thought I had it in the bag,” said Jamieson. “When James popped in there, I heard him yell, but I just had a really good feeling about my horse tonight. It didn’t matter who was on my back to be honest. I was really proud of him tonight, he was exceptional.”
The final time was 1:50.3, a national season's record for a sophomore pacing colt on a five-eighths mile racetrack.
Trained by Dr. Ian Moore, Stockade Seelster (State Treasurer - Soiree Seelster) now has seven wins from eight career OSS starts and has banked more than $475,000 in the program. His total earnings exceed $1.1 million for owners Sally and Paul MacDonald. As the generous 4-1 choice, he paid $10.80 for the win.
Moment Is Here’s solid season continued with his second-place effort. Whatchulookin At (Louis-Philippe Roy) was the final podium finisher.
There were also three $21,800 OSS Grassroots divisions on the card for three-year-old pacing colts and geldings, and those divisions all had a common denominator: driver James MacDonald.
Santana Hanover captured the first Grassroots division for driver MacDonald and trainer Richard Moreau. Domenic Chiaravalle owns the Big Jim gelding, who now has two wins from 11 starts this season. The betting public made Santana Hanover a 3-5 favourite and he stopped the clock in a lifetime best 1:52.
Leave It To Leo won his OSS debut in the second Grassroots division with MacDonald driving for trainer Nick Gallucci and owner Millar Farms. The Bettors Delight gelding used his rail position to sit third through the early going before moving to the front and grabbing the lead at the half and holding on the rest of the way to win in 1:52.3.
MacDonald, Gallucci and Millar teamed up with Winmebak in the third and final Grassroots division, and the son of Shadow Play won for the first time in the OSS in his fourth career attempt. MacDonald guided Winmebak to an off-the-pace score in 1:50.2 for his third win of the 2023 campaign. The mile time equalled the existing Rideau track standard for sophomore pacing geldings, set in 2012 by Michaels Power, and is the fastest mile on a five-eighths mile oval in Canada this season.
To view the results from the Sunday card of harness racing at Rideau Carleton Raceway, click the following link: Sunday Results - Rideau Carleton Raceway.
(with files from OSS)