Sprite Seelster led gate-to-wire and set a lifetime-best of 1:52 4/5 while posting a 15-1 upset in the lone C$140,000 Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold Series event for 3-year-old trotting fillies on Monday (May 26) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
She was driven to victory by her co-owner Tyler Borth, who shares her papers with Paul Gangle's Elite Equine LLC.
Borth steered Sprite Seelster to the front out of the nine-hole and didn't look back through fractions of 27 2/5, 56 2/5 and 1:24 1/5 to defeat a fast-closing Roxie Hart (Travis Cullen) by 1 1/2 lengths. Bright Green (Louis-Philippe Roy) was third. O'Brien Award-winning Monalishi (James MacDonald) was sent off as the 4-5 favourite and finished fifth in the field of nine, just ahead of 2-1 second choice Green Glider (Trevor Henry).
"I wasn't really happy with the nine-hole," Borth said to Woodbine Mohawk Park's Randy Waples. "I was thinking before the race, 'There are going to be a lot of leavers. It's a long year. Maybe I would be smart just to race from the back.' But I thought she raced really well last week.
"She has never really been used that hard. She was still pretty strong on the end of [the mile]. And even after the mile, when all the other horses seemed tired, she kept going. Like she can always go another half-lap. She's just a big, strong horse."
The mile shaved three full seconds off Sprite Seelster's personal-best. The C$70,000 payday nearly doubled her lifetime earnings to C$149,978.
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It was the first lifetime Gold victory for the daughter of Green Manalishi-Speak Of The Devil bred by Seelster Farms and sold for C$40,000 at the 2023 London Classic Yearling Sale.
Sprite Seelster, who is trained by Katie MacNeil, is now 2-1-1 in four 2025 starts. She is 3-2-2 in 10 career starts.
"She just does everything," Borth said. "She eats everything, and she comes out of a race well all the time. She holds her weight well. She's big, she's strong, and I think she's going to stay good all year."
Also on the Monday card at Woodbine Mohawk Park were three C$25,000 OSS Grassroots Series divisions for sophomore trotting fillies. The winners were:
-Ivy Lynn (Green Malalishi-Marion Mayflower) in a career-best 1:54 4/5 for breeders Stonegate Farms and Glen Gardner, owner Jean Mondoux, trainer Jean Tourigny and driver J.R. Plante. Ivy Lynn was purchased for $25,000 at the 2023 Standardbred Horse Sales Company yearling sale in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
-Incantation (Muscle Mass-More Magic) in 1:54 4/5 for breeders Robert McIntosh Stables and Dave Boyle, owners Mardon Stables and Tyrone Valley Farm, trainer Jeff Williams and driver Jody Jamieson.
-Tellers Choice (The Bank-Tosca) in 1:55 for breeder Winbak Farm, owner Determination, trainer Luc Blais and driver Louis-Philippe Roy. Tellers Choice was purchased for $100,000 at the 2023 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.
--press release (Ontario Sires Stakes)--