by Greg Blanchard, media/communications, Woodbine Entertainment Group

Toronto, ON — Lennon Blue Chip pulled off a mild upset in winning Monday night’s (October 15) C$130,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Final for 2-year-old colt pacers at Woodbine Racetrack and, in the process, just missed the stakes record with his 1:51.1 clocking.

Luc Ouellette got the strapping son of No Pan Intended-Dark Fiber away in the pocket position from post eight and followed favorite Deuce Seelster through solid splits of :27, :55.2 and 1:23.4.

As the field turned for home, Deuce Seelster tried to accelerate away from the field, but could not get away from the stalking pocket sitter who surged past right on the wire for the lifetime best win. Keystone Horatio, who set a stakes record of 1:51 in last week’s elimination, finished a strong third.

“Last week he had the rail and I paced out of there, and my horse was strong in the face,” said driver Luc Ouellette. “My horse was still pacing hard to the wire, and I thought that was a sign of good things to come. He’s a very strong horse. This win might put him in the Super Final, and I think he’ll do well for himself.”

The victory for the Brenda Teague trainee improved his record to three wins in nine starts this season and boosted his earnings to $144,111 for Teague, who co-owns along with Rodney Mitchell Inc. of Dover, Del.

The colt is in qualifying position for the OSS Super Final on November 10 at Woodbine and is also eligible to the upcoming Governor’s Cup with the eliminations for that event to be drawn Tuesday morning.