SARNIA, ON — After a month long absence, Ontario Sires Stakes action returns to Hiawatha Horse Park on Thursday evening with seven Grassroots divisions for the talented three-year-old pacing fillies.
Making her debut on the provincial scene in Thursday’s eighth race is Jim Morrissey trainee Galyn Seelster, who heads into the contest off an impressive come from behind victory at Flamboro Downs on Aug. 3 that saw her stop the teletimer at 1:58.4.
“We’re quite happy with her. She went a good mile at Flamboro,” says Lorna Davis, who shares ownership on the filly with Morrissey. “She came from last to win it.”
A modest $5,000 purchase as a yearling, Galyn Seelster did not race as a two-year-old and has just three starts under her belt this season, but the Crediton residents are hoping she is up for the challenge of the Grassroots program.
“She is just learning how to race, but with the Sires Stakes so close we had to take a shot at it,” explains Davis. “I hope she can keep improving the way she did between her last two races.”
Galyn Seelster made her debut at Hiawatha Horse Park on July 7 and finished fifth in a 1:57.3 mile. Two weeks later the filly suffered interference at the three-quarter pole in Sarnia and finished well behind the leaders in eighth, but her next start was the 1:58.4 score over Flamboro Downs’s half-mile oval.
The Flamboro victory was all the more impressive because of the filly’s size. Davis says the daughter of Dexter Nukes and $277,321 winner Glendale Kim tops the 17 hand mark, which is the primary reason she did not appear at the races as a two-year-old.
“She’s a really big filly. She’s over 17 hands,” says Davis. “She trained down really well as a two-year-old, but she was big and we wanted her to develop more. She had to grow into herself.”
Once Morrissey and Davis were ready to race the lanky youngster, they faced another hurdle. Having trained alone all her life Galyn Seelster was not impressed by the dirt flying at her from the other horses in her first qualifier and made an early break.
“I could see she was throwing her head a lot,” recalls Davis. “She wasn’t used to the other horses throwing a lot of dirt up in her face. We put a fly mask on her and she seems to have adjusted now.
“Now that she’s got amongst the other horses, she’s starting to get a little racier too.”
Terry Kerr will steer Galyn Seelster from Post 4 in the eighth race, where she will meet a pair of fillies with flawless Grassroots records this season — Fabulous Flori from Post 1 and Pauline Seelster from Post 9.
Hiawatha Horse Park’s first race parades in front of the grandstand at 7:30 pm on Thursday evening, with the three-year-old pacing fillies featured in Races 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, and 10.
For a complete list of Grassroots entries please go to:
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/entries/data/esarfth.html