Longshot Shaman Ghost came from off the pace with a huge rally to win Saturday's $150,000 Marine Stakes at Woodbine Race Track.
Trained by Brian Lynch and ridden by Rafael Hernandez, Shaman Ghost went off at 13-1 in the nine-horse field of 3-year-olds using the stakes as a prep for this year's Queen's Plate.
Shaman Ghost, owned by Stronach Stables, was fourth early in the 1 1/16-mile Marine but was shuffled to the rear of the field up the backstretch.
At the top of the stretch, pacesetter Bears Personality was joined on the lead by U S Marshall and Seventhfleethumor. Shaman Ghost came surging down the stretch and went on to post a half-length win over 28-1 longshot Seventhfleethumor with Danish Dynaformer, the 7-2 second pick, third. Odds-on favorite Ami's Flatter at 3-5 was never a factor.
The time for the Marine was 1:43.35 on Woodbine's synthetic main track.
"I think he took a step forward," said the winning trainer.
Shaman Ghost won his first stakes in his initial stakes appearance. The colt earned $90,000 and notched his third win in six career starts for $149,533. The 3-year-old won for the third straight time while making his first start at Woodbine since a fourth-place finish in his debut effort last October.
Shaman Ghost paid $28.30, $10.60 and $6.10. Seventhfleethumor returned $20.40 and $10.40, Danish Dynaformer paid $4.40 to show.
[SportsNetwork.com]
