LONDON, ON — She won an elimination of the very first Gold Series event of the season and at Western Fair Raceway on Friday evening pacing filly Alias Seelster capped off her two-year-old campaign with a win in the very last Trillium Series event.

The Intrepid Seelster daughter and driver Ross Battin executed a perfect come-from-behind strategy to log the 1:58.4 victory. Leaving from Post 2 Battin settled Alias Seelster in fourth as fan favourite Platinum Seelster took the field to a :28.1 opening quarter and :58.1 half.

Heading for the three-quarters Battin sent the filly up the outside and by when the teletimer flashed 1:28 they had assumed command of the race. On top by one and a half lengths at the head of the stretch, Alias Seelster had extended her lead to two and one-quarter lengths by the time she hit the wire.

So Bashful, trained by Putnam resident Scott McNiven for Douglas Dunbar of London and Brad Dunbar of Ilderton, finished second and Cinny Fever rounded out the top three. Favourite Platinum Seelster, owned by breeder Seelster Farms Inc. of Lucan, started to fade just past the mid-point of the race and finished well out of contention in seventh.

The win was Alias Seelster’s fifth in a 12 race campaign that was a source of frustration for trainer Ray Bunn of Denfield and his partner Lisa Steward of Denfield. The pair struggled to keep the filly healthy all season, and while she captured one Gold elimination, two Trillium events, one Grassroots elimination and her Grassroots Semifinal, she came up short in two Gold Finals and the Grassroots Championship.

Sent off as the London fans’s second choice, Alias Seelster returned $12.70 to win, $6.90 to place and $3.30 to show. Sixth choice So Bashful delivered $15.70 on each place ticket and $6.90 for a show wager, while fourth choice Cinny Fever returned $5.40 to show.

Pairing up Alias Seelster and So Bashful returned $69.10 on an exactor ticket, adding Cinny Fever for a triactor play delivered $662.70 and bundling the top three finishers with fourth-placed Life Pulse, the longest shot on the board, in a superfecta wager paid a cool $2,107.15.

Friday’s contest completed the provincial stakes campaign for the two-year-old pacing fillies, who started their season on June 30. Western Fair Raceway hosts another Trillium event tomorrow (Saturday) evening before lowering the curtain on its 2005 Ontario Sires Stakes schedule.

For complete results please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/results/data/rlonfr.html#N9