While her 2025 has not lived up to the hype created from a blemish-free Canadian Horse of the Year-winning freshmen season a year ago, Chantilly proved once again that there’s no place like home, taking the $300,000 Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold Super Final for 3-year-old pacing fillies at Woodbine Mohawk Park Saturday night (Oct. 11). In the process, she upped her lifetime stats at the seven-eighths-mile oval to 15 wins in just 16 tries.

The race played out predictably, as driver James MacDonald was in no hurry with Chantilly, who had drawn the rail in the eight-horse field. Simply The Best (driven by Jean Rene Plante, post 5) and Perfectly Chic (Bob McClure, post 7) were away from the gate alertly, and that duo raced 1-2 around the first turn while Chantilly was in the 3-hole before Simply The Best hit the quarter in :26.1.

MacDonald gave Chantilly the go-ahead after the field straightened up, and Chantilly responded with a quick brush to command just after the three-eighths. The Nick Gallucci trainee reached the half in :55.1 after a leisurely second fraction of :29.

The action heading to the far turn was limited to Wicked N Single (Louis-Philippe Roy, post 3) moving first-over toward the front of the pack, but she never got all that close to the tandem of Chantilly and Simply The Best, who were 1-2 at three-quarters in 1:23.

It was then coronation time for the Queen of the Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS), who would reign supreme for a second straight year on the circuit.

The winner of 10 of 11 lifetime starts in the OSS program opened up some real estate in mid-stretch before polishing off another impressive win with a final quarter of :27. The final time of 1:50 on a chilly evening was just one-fifth-of-a-second off her lifetime best.

It was one-length back to second-place finisher Simply The Best with Perfectly Chic third.

“Oh, it’s a dream come true when you get to sit behind horses like her,” MacDonald said. “She’s just a Cadillac. She’s given me so many thrills the last couple of years and it’s just a real honour to get to do it with [owner] George [Millar] and Nick; we’ve been doing this a while together and it’s been a good partnership and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

“She’s always good. Her off nights, she’s still good. She’s just a pro and she just knows how to win. She’s done a lot of it in her career and it’s just great to see her win the Super Final. Not too many horses go back-to-back, so that’s another feather in her cap.”

Chantilly, as the 1-9 favourite, paid $2.10 to win.

“It’s been a frustrating year, but she really pieced it together the last couple of weeks,” Gallucci said of his prized pupil, who has dealt with some illness issues. “I’m really happy with the last couple of weeks that she’s had. Last week [in an eight-length romp in 1:50.2], she was deadly and I just can’t thank the horse enough for the ride that she’s taken us on.

“[She’s] an absolute pleasure to have and a pleasure to train.”

When Mohawk’s John Rallis asked about the possibility of Chantilly entering the Breeders Crown, Gallucci was quick to respond.

“Absolutely,” he said. “We’ll see how she comes out of the race, but that’s definitely the plan; to enter Tuesday morning for the Breeders Crown elimination Saturday.”

Millar Farms owns and bred Chantilly, a brown daughter of Big Jim—Shiraz Seelster. Millar was predictably pleased in the winner’s circle.

“She’s a great filly and, hopefully, we’ll get another couple of weeks out of her and then she can have a nice winter off,” he said.

Millar made it clear where he stands on the province’s program.

“I think I’ve said this quite a few times,” he said. “To me, this is the best program around. We saw what Beau Jangles can do and he hasn’t left the province. We breed some good horses and you don’t have to go that far to make money, so I think it’s the best program dollar-for-dollar around. We’ll always breed up here.”

Chantilly has now amassed 15 wins from 18 lifetime starts, good for earnings of $1,293,462.