Prodigal Seelster picked up his first Ontario Sires Stakes win of the season in last week’s Gold eliminations at Mohawk Racetrack, and his owners are hoping the sophomore pacing colt can score a repeat
this Saturday from Post 2.
“That’s one thing we’re kind of pretty tickled and happy with, is that we drew quite well,” says Cheltenham resident Larry Menary, who shares ownership of Prodigal Seelster with Denis Breton of Welland, Kenneth Ewen of Georgetown and Double Or Nothing Stables of Hamilton. “He’s in a good position there, as long Scott (Zeron) gets a pretty good trip worked out for him.”
In last week’s elimination, Oakville resident Zeron engineered a near perfect pocket trip for Prodigal Seelster from Post 6. After hustling off the gate to the lead the pair sat behind Bullet Speed through the bulk of the mile and then unleashed a :27 final quarter to score the half length victory in a season’s best 1:50.4.
The elimination victory followed on the heels of a strong third-place result in the Canadian Breeders Championship, which saw Zeron and Prodigal Seelster carve most of the fractions in a 1:50.2 mile before getting nipped in the stretch by Camaes Fellow and Twin B Legend.
“That start before there, they went in 1:50.2 I believe it was - all three of them were timed in the same time - he seemed to be kind of coming around a little bit better,” says Menary of last year’s Super Final winner. “It looks like he’s kind of coming back to himself a little more; he’s got a little bit more extra work into him now I guess.”
Menary adds that the colt ran into a few early season hiccups that his son, trainer David Menary, seems to have ironed out in recent weeks, and the owner is hoping Prodigal Seelster continues to improve as the colts head into the second half of their season.
“He’s still got a long season here yet to go until we get towards the end of it, that’s for sure,” says Menary.
“I think right now it looks like everything seems to be kind of suiting him pretty good,” adds the longtime owner. “He had a few little issues there, and I think they’ve kind of got them small little things ironed out at this point.”
Prodigal Seelster and the other Gold Elimination winner, Twin B Legend, will line-up shoulder to shoulder in Saturday’s $130,000 skirmish. Twin B Legend will make his bid for a Gold Final trophy from Post 1. Scratched out of last week’s Gold Elimination, Prodigal Seelster’s stablemate Watermelonwine will not be on hand to defend the Gold Final title he captured in the season opener at Georgian Downs on July 9.
The sophomore pacing colts will wage their rich battle in the fifth race on Mohawk Racetrack’s Saturday evening program, which gets under way at 7:10 p.m., and Menary says he and his partners will be hoping for some racing luck when the wings fold.
“I’m telling you, we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed.”
(OSS)
To view entries for Saturday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Entries – Mohawk Racetrack.