Strobe Lite collected the $350,000 Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Super Final for 3-year-old trotting colts on Saturday night (Oct. 10) at Woodbine Mohawk Park, picking up his second championship for the partnership of Benoit Baillargeon, Claude Hamel, Nunzio Vena and Glengate Farms. He did so with a lifetime best 1:52 performance for Louis-Philippe Roy, a first-time pilot behind the gelding.
“It was very gratifying,” said Baillargeon, who also trains Strobe Lite. “I thought maybe we should have won a couple more this [year]. Some of them got away on us, but he got the job done tonight.”
Leading into the Super Final, Strobe Lite matched Touchedbyanangel with two Gold Series wins during the campaign, and the pair were nearly identical in points – 155 vs. 153 – with the latter holding the narrow advantage. Baillargeon’s trainee picked up his victories in June and July before making a break at Grand River Raceway in an August leg. He then jumped it off again stateside in the Earl Beal Memorial final.
After a successful qualifier, Strobe Lite returned to action by posting three on-the-board finishes with regular pilot James MacDonald, trotting second in a Grade 3 Simcoe division, second to Touchedbyanangel in Gold Series competition, and third behind Nix Nacken and Apex in the Grade 1 Canadian Trotting Classic. For the Super Final, Roy was tapped to drive.
“I was like really confident in the horse, but I was also worried to just do a mistake, put him on the run, you know,” said Roy. “A few times he showed breaks during a race, so I was just trying to let him do his thing. It ended up me driving him in a very tough way, but I definitely had the best horse, so he responded.”
Lining up third behind the starting gate, Roy got away seventh with the favourite as Stormont Shanlyboy (Tyler Jones, Post 4), Thor B Good (Jonathan Drury, Post 5) and Mike Me Up (MacDonald, Post 6) each pushed to the front when the wings folded. Stormont Shanlyboy led by a nose over Mike Me Up at the quarter, timed in :26.1, before being shuffled to second.
As the field marched to the half (:55.2), Touchedbyanangel and Doug McNair were out and moving from fourth. Strobe Lite and Roy also angled out on the backstretch and followed. McNair and Touchedbyanangel were able to take the lead, and Roy had the favoured sophomore bidding for the lead first-over in second at three quarters (1:24).
In the stretch, Strobe Lite took control as Mike Me Up dropped to the inside to move past a retreating Touchedbyanangel and take a shot at the new leader. Roy’s charge dug in late to reach the wire first, holding off the late charge of Stormont Shanlyboy by a head. Mike Me Up trotted third.
“When he got in the stretch, it was the horse that worked the most out of the race, that’s for sure,” said Roy. “It’s like I said, I was just confident. I didn’t want to risk putting him on the run to give him a good trip. I was confident he was just the best. Tyler’s horse was maybe a little fresher than mine. He was getting going on us, but our horse just digged up.”
The winning time knocked two-fifths of a second off the sophomore’s career best time. The victory is the fourth in 14 starts this year. Strobe Lite has hit the board 12 times, and now possesses seasonal earnings of $602,209. An OSS Gold Final winner at two, Strobe Lite has banked $982,130 in his career.
Strobe Lite is a gelded son of Alarm Detector out of the Father Patrick mare Shine Bright. A $16,000 London Classic Yearling Sale purchase, he was bred by co-owner Glengate Farms.
Strobe Lite returned $2.80-$2.20-$2.10 to his backers.
Baillargeon, who also trained Alarm Detector, said that Strobe Lite has been supplemented to the Breeders Crown. Now the decision must be made as to whether the trotter will ship to Scioto Downs.
“I have until Monday, so I will be thinking about it,” he said.