LONDON, ON — Last season Sergei Seelster came close a couple of times, but never managed to take home a Gold Final trophy, so Friday night’s triumph at Western Fair Raceway was especially sweet for the three-year-old pacing colt and his connections.

Burlington resident Gary Smith and his partner Lloyd Nicholson of Campbellville purchased Sergei Seelster at the start of his two-year-old season and the pair cheered the Rustler Hanover son to one Grassroots and two Gold Elimination wins in his nine race Ontario Sires Stakes campaign. All season the talented youngster only missed two cheques, but he was never able to get closer than third in a Gold Final.

In last weekend’s Gold Elimination, Sergei Seelster delivered an impressive come from behind effort to overcome the outside Post 7 and score a 1:54.4 victory over favourite Daddy Mac, so Smith and Nicholson had their fingers crossed that their colt might finally abandon his role as a best man and take top honours in Friday’s $130,000 Gold Final.

Starting from Post 4, driver Brad Forward eased Sergei Seelster off the starting gate as rail-sitter and fan favourite Cam Cool rocketed to a :26.3 opening quarter. As Cam Cool backed things of in the second quarter, Forward sent Sergei Seelster up the outside behind elimination winner Deuces And Jacks and Daddy Mac and was just four and one-quarter lengths off the pace as the teletimer ticked off a :55.1 half.

As Cam Cool continued to dawdle on the front end, reaching the three-quarters in 1:24.1, Randy Waples decided to send Daddy Mac after the lead and circled up three-wide around Deuces And Jacks. In a move rarely seen on the London half-mile, Forward decided all three colts in front of him were moving too slow and sent Sergei Seelster four wide.

As the gritty colts battled around the final turn and straightened out for the drive to the wire, Cam Cool was still on top by one length, Daddy Mac — his barn mate in the Bob McIntosh Stable — was second, Semalu Express — who had sat on the rail throughout all the position jockeying — was two lengths behind the leader in third, and Sergei Seelster was three and one-quarter lengths back in fourth.

However, when the drivers asked their charges for another gear, it was Sergei Seelster who dug the deepest, powering down the stretch to a one length victory over Cam Cool and Daddy Mac in 1:53.4.

The win was the second straight for Sergei Seelster, and the third through eight starts this season. It matched the personal best he set at Georgian Downs on May 1, his first start of the sophomore campaign, and boosted his career earnings to $232,227.

William Elliott trains Sergei Seelster, who will attempt to defend his coveted Gold Final title at Georgian Downs on July 7.

The Ontario Sires Stakes program takes a summer hiatus from Western Fair Raceway, returning to the London oval on Friday, Oct. 5 with Gold Elimination action for the two-year-old trotting fillies.

For complete results please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/results/data/rlonfr.html#N10