Bright Green tied the Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) record for three-year-old trotting fillies while winning the lone $140,000 Gold Leg 4 event on Saturday, Aug. 9 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Driven by Louis-Philippe Roy, the daughter of Green Manalishi S out of Shine Bright, trained by Eric Nadeau, won gate-to-wire in the field of six, posting fractions of :27.1, :55 and 1:22.3 to win by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:52 over Foxy Amee (Doug McNair) in a career-best mile. Two-time 2025 Gold winner Sprite Seelster (Tyler Borth) was third, followed by 4-5 favourite Stormont Beautiful (Bob McClure) and Roxie Hart (Travis Cullen). Bright Green was sent off at 11-1 and paid $24.90.
Roy told Woodbine broadcaster Chad Rozema that Bright Green “was good until past the quarter when I wanted to her to relax a bit. She didn't want to relax… but she did the job. I was just hoping she wouldn't stop too bad. But I guess everybody else was tired following us.”
The driver said Bright Green’s connections opted to forego the previous Gold leg event on July 16 at Grand River Raceway. Instead, Bright Green won a $25,000 Grassroots division on July 14 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
“We skipped the last Gold at Grand River because she's not really good around the turns,” Roy said. “She raced really well in the Grassroots, so we decided to go back [to the Gold]. This week, she trained the best. I went to train her with Eric. I got off the bike, and I said I had never seen her that good and that it might be a good thing for this weekend.”
The win, her first in a Gold event, improved Bright Green to 3-2-2 in 10 starts this year and 5-4-4 in 21 lifetime races. She increased her bankroll to $122,996 this year and $172,385 lifetime. The 1:52 mile shaved nearly three seconds off her previous best mile of 1:54.3 set during that Grassroots start on July 14.
Bred by Glengate Farms of Erin, Ont., Bright Green was purchased for $65,000 at the 2023 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale by Ecurie CSL of Sorel-Tracy, Que. and Louis-Philippe Roy Racing of Campbellville, Ont.
Bright Green now shares the divisional stakes record with Righteous Resolve, who set the mark in 2023.
There were also two $17,000 second-leg divisions of a Pop-Up Series on the card. Rochester Flash ($6.50) blitzed the Mohawk oval in a career-best 1:48.4 in the first contest. Uncle Shank A ($3.10) took the second in 1:50.3. The series is for pacing horses and geldings that are non-winners of $50,000 in a minimum of 12 starts in 2025 with starters for a purse of $11,000 or less in their previous start and leg one starters also eligible.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(With files from Ontario Racing)