P L Spencer won the faster of two C$90,000 Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold Series events for 3-year-old trotting males on Thursday (May 29) at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Ritchie Rich was the other winner.
In the first OSS event of the night, P L Spencer set a lifetime-best of 1:54 while winning his first career Gold Series event in his first outing in the top provincial class.
Driver Bob McClure eased the gelded son of Resolve-P L Indyanaca into fourth out of the eight-hole in the early going as Fast Snap (Chris Christoforou) led the field to the quarter in 28 seconds. P L Spencer (7-2) brushed to the front before the 57 1/5 half and then held the nine-horse field at bay through the three-quarters in 1:25 2/5 before trotting home in 28 3/5 to win by 2 1/2 lengths over favorite Wearing The Green (Doug McNair). Fast Snap was third, Cousin Halifax (Travis Cullen) fourth and LMC Wagon Wheel (Tyler Borth) picked up the final check.
"[Fast Snap] looked like he wanted to be covered up, so I let [P L Spencer] try [the front], and then from there, he was pretty green the whole way," McClure told Woodbine Mohawk Park's Chad Rozema. "Down the stretch, he didn't have the same powerful kick he had the week before coming off a helmet. But if that's not his A plus game, and he can still win, I'm pretty happy."
P L Spencer is owned by his trainer, Steve Bossence, along with Richard Thompson, Derek Reid of Etobicoke, ON and E C S Racing LLC. The trotter was bred by Prince Lee Acres and purchased as a yearling for C$40,000 at the 2023 London Classic Yearling Sale.
P L Spencer improved to 4-1-0 in nine career starts and more than doubled his lifetime earnings to C$85,150. The gelding is now 3-1-0 in 5 starts in 2025.
"Last year, he seemed like the real deal, and we had trouble with a foot," Bossence said. "He got a quarter crack, and then his angle got really low, and we raced him once more, and he made a break. He went to Kentucky, and we gave him some time off out there, and then brought him back, and he's come back great. He is way better going without the hobbles on, but when he made the break, I said, 'he'll go without them, before he's done, I know he will.' He's a way, way, way nicer going horse without them."
Bossence said P L Spencer's next assignment will likely be against stakes colts in the Goodtimes at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
"He'll be in with some bearcats, so [McClure] will get to do what he wants. He'll be on a helmet next week with him when he runs in with the bearcats, for sure."
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In the second Gold test, Ritchie Rich led gate-to-wire through fractions of 28 2/5, 56 2/5 and 1:25 4/5 and pulled away in the stretch to win by 4 3/4 lengths over Gaslight Hall (Jody Jamieson) in 1:54 1/5.
Todd Ratchford drove Ritchie Rich (2-1) to victory on behalf of his family and was emotional in the winner's circle while speaking to Rozema. It was the family's first career victory at the Gold level.
"My family, my sister, my dad, my mom, they've all done an incredible job with him," Ratchford said. "It's everything. That's why we do this sport, and that's why we love it, just for moments like these, and to have everyone here in the winner's circle, it's pretty amazing."
The homebred son of Wheeling N Dealin-Hola Lola was bred by Cynthia Graham and William Woolfrey and is trained and owned, in part, by Ratchford's mother, Mary, who shares Ritchie Rich's papers with Graham and Carolyn Jarrell.
"I have total confidence in this horse," Todd said. "He's done nothing but show me what he's able to do. So, I figured, if I can get [to the front] kind of easy I'll just keep driving...I thought someone might get close, but once I was down the stretch, I was like, 'All right, it's game over.'"
Modelo Gold (Dagfin Henriksen) was third, Pierre In Paris (Trevor Henry) was fourth and favorite Galen Erso (Doug McNair) picked up the final check.
The victory more than doubled Ritchie Rich’s lifetime earnings to C$83,750. The trotter is now 5-2-0 in 10 career starts and 4-2-0 in 7 starts in 2025. The mile was just one-fifth of a second off Ritchie Rich’s career-best mile of 1:54 set on May 16 in an overnight at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
--press release (Ontario Sires Stakes)--