The Green Gazoo ties track record in $90,000 OSS leg

Elora, ON – The Green Gazoo and Strobe Lite were the winners of their respective $90,000 Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Gold Leg 4 events for 2-year-old trotting colts on Wednesday (Sept. 3) at Grand River Raceway.

In the first division, Trouble With Names (Bob McClure) led the field of seven at every station (fractions of :27, :57.1 and 1:26.1), but 18-1 longshot The Green Gazoo (Green Manalishi S) shot up the inside in deep stretch to win by a neck over Trouble With Name in a career-best 1:56.3 that tied the track record for a 2-year-old trotting colt.

The mile was three-fifths-of-a-second off the 1:56 Canadian and OSS record set by Windsong Espoir in 2007 at Windsor Raceway. Tavern Onthe Green (Louis-Philippe Roy) finished third, followed by First Class Mass (Jody Jamieson) and previous Gold champ Crunchintheodds (James MacDonald). Favoured Touchedbyanangel (Doug McNair) finished sixth.

It was the first time Henry had driven the gelded son of Green Manalishi S out of Tommi My Girl, bred by Dustin Jones Stables Inc. of Hamilton, ON and Hebert Horses Inc. of Montreal. The Green Gazoo, owned by Coyote Wynd Farms of Oakville and the gelding’s trainer, Clark Beelby of Campbellville, ON, was purchased for $65,000 at the 2024 Standardbred Horse Sales Company yearling sale in Harrisburg, PA.
The win improved The Green Gazoo to 2-1-0 in five career starts and upped his bankroll to $80,950.

THE GREEN GAZOO REPLAY

He paid $38.60 to win.

In the second division, Strobe Lite (James MacDonald) broke his maiden, cruising to a three-length win over previous Gold winner Mike Me Up (Louis-Philippe Roy) in 1:58.1 Mike Me Up led the field through the :28.2 first quarter, but MacDonald had Strobe Lite on the move past the tote board the first time and on top before the :58.4 half. The son of Alarm Detector out of Shine Bright rolled through the 1:28 three-quarters and on to an eased-up victory. Notatthetablcarlos (Bob McClure) was third, Mass Deloyment (Tyler Borth) was fourth and favourite Another Great Mass (Trevor Henry) made a break but still grabbed the final cheque in the field of six.

STROBE LITE REPLAY

Sent off at even money, Strobe Lite paid $4.10 for the win.

Bred and co-owned by Glengate Farms of Erin, ON, Strobe Lite is also owned by his trainer, Benoit

Baillargeon of Guelph, ON, Claude Hamel of Orford, QC and Nunzio Vena of Bolton, ON. The colt was purchased for $16,000 at the 2024 London Classic Yearling Sale.

Strobe Lite is now 1-2-3 in seven career starts and has earnings of $148,310.

The previous Gold winners in the freshman trotting colts’ division were:
• In The Black at Woodbine Mohawk Park on July 12
• Another Great Mass at Woodbine Mohawk Park on July 31
• Crunchintheodds and Mike Me Up at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Aug. 7

To view Wednesday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Wednesday Results – Grand River Raceway.

by Dave Briggs for Ontario Racing