Kim Lezanchuk's Landry Seelster ($7.90) earned her third Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots win of the season with a 1:56.1 mile in Saturday afternoon's (Sept. 5) event for three-year-old pacing fillies at Hanover Raceway.
Landry Seelster ($7.90) scored in pillar-to-post fashion, facing nary a challenge in her 1:56.1 score in the $22,100 second division (race five). Robert Shepherd landed the daughter of Mach Three on an uncontested lead through a :28.4 quarter, and the pair were able to rate middle fractions of :59 and 1:27.3 before using a :28.3 final panel to keep pocket rival Need Ur Opinion (Doug McNair) 1-1/2 lengths at bay. Keystone Kalimba finished third.
“She was really good. She was strong,” said Shepherd. “She got it her own way kind of on the front, but she’s really good on the half, she can pace the turns so good.”
Since entering the care of trainer Michael Ellis, Landry Seelster has won two of four races, both in Grassroots events.
In the $22,450 first division (race two), Queso Relleno ($2.10) and Jody Jamieson set the 1:56.1 mark Landry Seelster went on to match. The daughter of Betterthancheddar earned her first Grassroots win of the season in near pillar-to-post fashion, brushing to seize the lead from Docs Harmony (Jonathan Drury) through a :28.1 first quarter before controlling middle splits of :58.1 and 1:26.4 and then sprinting off to a five-length victory. Coqui Coqui (Sylvain Filion) sustained an uncovered bid to narrowly collar Docs Harmony for second.
“I was very happy with her. She’s started to come back to being what we thought we had at the beginning of the year,” said trainer Blake MacIntosh. “She had a rough start to the year and then she got a rock in the eye and we were really scared that she was going to have to lose the eye. It’s a little cloudy, but it’s pretty good now. We’re really happy with the way she’s bounced back the last couple weeks.
“She won [the championship] last year as a two-year-old, so we’re hoping that she can repeat as a three-year-old,” said MacIntosh of the upcoming post season. “There’s a couple really nice horses that skipped today that will be tough in there, but we’re hopeful that she just keeps getting better.”
Trainer Blake MacIntosh co-owns six-time winner Queso Relleno with the Hutt Racing Stable, Sue Vernon Smith and the Flanagan Sisters.
Free Flyin Ticket ($16.90) and Sylvain Filion scored the biggest upset of the OSS event in the $22,100 third division (race six), scooting clear on the far turn and evading a late push from 4-5 choice Mary Kat (James MacDonald) by three-quarters of a length in 1:56.3. Saulsbrook Raven (Drury) was a one-paced third from an earned pocket.
“She’s been racing poor her last couple of starts so we decided we’d try to wake her up a little bit and change her bridle, and we threw a set of blinkers on her today,” said trainer Anthony Beaton. “It looked like Sylvain had a bit of a handful with her there at the quarter pole when they got there, and he made the move, and it was a big move that he made there in the turn to clear the front, and then she ended up being good enough to get there.”
Trainer Anthony Beaton co-owns Free Flyin Ticket, a daughter of Betterthancheddar with three Grassroots wins to her name this season, with David Mercer, Gary Volpe and George Quartarone.
The $22,100 final division (race eight) saw Mach My Kiss ($2.30) also earn her third Grassroots win of the summer, withstanding sustained pressure through the final quarter of a 1:57.2 mile in doing so. Doug McNair drove the Mach Three filly to a half-length win over Trafalgar (MacDonald), who emerged from fourth and applied steady and sustained pressure all the way to the line. Tuggingoncredit (Guy Gagnon) rode the pocket and stayed on for third.
“She got the job done, but she’s better on the bigger track,” McNair said. “There are a bunch of nice fillies in it, but she ranks up there with them.”
Rob Fellows trains the seven-time winner for Yolanda Fellows and Erna Corbeil.
(with files from Ontario Sires Stakes)
To view Saturday's complete results, click the following link: Saturday Results – Hanover Raceway.