Strobe Lite and Touchedbyanangel won Grade 3 Champlain Stakes divisions for rookie trotting colts and geldings on Thursday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park, with Strobe Lite clocking a stakes record 1:53 3/5 mile.
After Crunchintheodds (Tyler Borth) and Greenarrow Hanover (Bob McClure) put up opening-half fractions of 27 seconds and 56 2/5 in the second C$81,622 split, driver James MacDonald wheeled Strobe Lite out of fourth on the last turn and advanced into third as Greenarrow Hanover put three-quarters up in 1:25 4/5.
In the lane Strobe Lite wore down and went by Greenarrow Hanover and then kept a second-over Kingmen (Doug McNair) at bay to the wire, winning by a neck. Crunchintheodds was third, followed by Greenarrow Hanover and The Green Gazoo (Trevor Henry).
"Today, he did a big boy trip. They were speeding but he was out a long way," MacDonald said. "He felt really good, but you never really know. When I asked him, he took off. It was a great stretch battle, but he was trotting hard."
Trainer Ben Baillargeon co-owns Strobe Lite, an Alarm Detector gelding, with breeder Glengate Farms and their partners Claude Hamel and Nunzio Vena. He has two wins, two seconds and three thirds from eight starts, has earned C$189,121 and paid $2.80 to win.
"He's got the speed and he's big and strong," Baillargeon remarked. "The horse is learning."
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Back in the opening C$81,623 split, Captain Code (Scott Young) put up panels of 28, 57 4/5 and 1:26 3/5, but Touchedbyanangel (McNair) had space to tip out of the three-hole in the stretch and chased down Captain Code to get the victory by three-quarters of a length in 1:54 2/5. Mothers Moni (MacDonald), Land The Plane (Jody Jamieson) and Tavern Onthe Green (Louis Roy) completed the top five.
"I like him. We had his mother and his mother cracked a knee," said Rob Fellows, father of trainer Kyle Fellows. "She was always lame but this one is very sound and very good."
An Archangel colt, Touchedbyanangel was bred by Blair and Erna Corbeil, and Blair Corbeil shares ownership with Yolanda Fellows, Mike McAllister and Peter Porter. Touchedbyanangel has a summary of 1-1-0 from eight appearances, has pocketed C$117,387 and returned $6.70 to win.