Perhaps it's fitting that a past Pepsi North America Cup champion notched his first two-year-old winner on the morning of the 2023 Pepsi North America Cup eliminations at that very track.
On Saturday (June 10), Woodbine Mohawk Park conducted a session of baby races for the boys after featuring fillies on Friday (June 9). There were six dashes slated for the Saturday session, three per gait. The fillies on Friday surprised slightly with a trotter clocking the fastest win time, but Saturday's swiftest mile came courtesy Captain Fear Not.
One of the few colts making his second seasonal appearance, Captain Fear Not boldly forged to the front of his set and towed driver Sylvain Filion to a gate-to-wire score. After fractions of :30.2, 1:01.1 and 1:30.3, Captain Fear Not sprinted home in :28.1 for the 1:58.4 speed badge. That mile provided his first-crop sire, 2019 Pepsi North America Cup winner Captain Crunch, with his first record performer.
Conditioned by Paul Reid, Captain Fear Not (Captain Crunch - Mikayla Rose) was a $45,000 Harrisburg purchase of Campbellville, Ont.'s Kathe Troy.
The connections that clicked for the flashiest mile on Friday returned with another impressive trotter some 24 hours later. With tempo-setter Wishing Spell (Gino Toscani) setting fractions of :30.1, 1:00.2 and 1:30.2 before drifting widely in the stretch, Mrstery Deal (Filion) and Top Mast (James MacDonald) employed ground-saving tactics along the pylons through those opening panels. With unexpected daylight in front of them, those two trotters burst through the inside of the Mohawk oval. Top Mast emerged victorious, a half-length better than Mrstery Deal, hitting the wire in 2:00.1. What About Elmo (Bob McClure) was flying late to finish third.
Trained by Desiree Jones for Mount Hope, Ont.'s Gino Toscani, Top Mast (Walner - Princess Lilly) was a $25,000 Lexington Selected sale purchase. He's a half-brother to 2021 Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots final winner The Prince.
Mohawk's next qualifying session, for three-year-olds and up, will take place on Tuesday (June 13). Next week's qualifiers for two-year-olds are slated for Thursday (June 15) and Friday (June 16).
The full video stream from the Saturday session is available below.
For results from the qualifying session, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers).