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.
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.
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.
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.
Rob Fellows trains the seven-time winner for Yolanda Fellows and Erna Corbeil.