Sitting the pocket, Kendall Seelster pounced on odds-on favourite Percy Bluechip and handed her the first defeat of her career, upsetting in the $169,381 Champlain Two-Year-Old Filly Pace in 1:51.1 at Mohawk Racetrack.

A daughter of Shadow Play from the Bettors Delight mare Kiddie Cocktail, Kendall Seelster stalked Percy Bluechip as she set splits of :26.2 and :55.3 on the lead. Soon to be braced by an uncovered challenge from Big Thong around the turn, driver Randy Waples tipped Kendall Seelster out of the pocket midway around the final turn to match strides with the leader through three-quarters in 1:24.3 and soon edge to the lead. Percy Bluechip chased the Paul Reid trainee to settle for second, while Pueblo Blue Chip rallied off a rail trip to be third.

Owned by 1187422 Ontario Inc., Kendall Seelster won her second race in seven starts, earning $199,186. She returned $21.80 to win.

“I seem to draw [against] Percy Bluechip every week, and I always usually get away close to her; on her back,” Randy Waples said. “I could never beat her, and sometimes I can never get out to get the chance. I think the first couple of times I raced against her, even if I got out, there was no beating her. But I thought last week or the week before she maybe was a little more tired than she’d been showing, and my filly was really, really fresh right now. Tonight she got out and things worked out well.

“I put nothing against [Percy Bluechip] either – she’s just about as good of a two-year-old filly as I’ve seen in a long time. My filly’s really handy, too – they’re both handy fillies. They can get out of there and sit up close, and then still have a lot left coming for home. This is the first time Percy’s been beat, so I got to give her the edge. But it will be interesting to see how much better [Kendall Seelster] can get.”

(Standardbred Canada)