Multiple O'Brien Award-winning trotter Forbidden Trade opened Tuesday morning's seven-race qualifying session at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Recording his first charted line on Canadian soil this year, Forbidden Trade took command from post five and clocked fractions of :29.2, :59.2 and 1:28.4 en route to the 1:56.3 one-length qualifying win with Bob McClure in the sulky. New Zealand import Rydgemont Son N, debuting in North America here, followed in second and Tuckers Son was third.
Trained by Luc Blais, Determination's five-year-old son of Kadabra-Pure Ivory returned to Mohawk after competing in the John Cashman Jr. Memorial Trot on Hambletonian Day at The Meadowlands. Two-for-seven this season, Forbidden Trade won the Crawford Farms Trot at the Big M in early July. Canada's 2019 Horse of the Year has earned 18 career wins and more than $1.6 million in purses.
The same connections were behind three-year-old pacing gelding Shazam Blue Chip, who followed the pocket-pulling Number One Hit as he swept around the tiring leader at the 1:25.1 third quarter mark and then opened up 5-1/5 lengths on that foe with a :27.2 final frame to win his qualifier in 1:53 flat. The son of Shadow Play-Michelles Song has made just one start this year after putting together a 2-2-2 record during a 10-race rookie campaign.
The Determination-Blais campaigned Delvin Miller Memorial champion Donna Soprano was also in action this morning and closed from the back of a five-horse qualifying trot to finish third behind 1:58.3 winner Southwind Cersei, a sophomore filly driven by Paul MacDonell and trained by Sarah McCoy, and two-year-old gelding Royal Champane, who was coming off an early August Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots victory at Kawartha Downs for the Ben Baillargeon barn.
Another OSS Grassroots winner, Renegade Gypsy took the lone two-year-old trot of the session in 1:58.1 for trainer/driver Mario Baillargeon and Thestable Renegade Gypsy of Guelph, Ont.
The Archangel-Sea Gypsy gelding crossed over to the lead from post eight before the first turn and led the field through fractions of :29.4, :59.4 and 1:30 on his way to the 1-1/2 length qualifying win. Take Command and P P E followed in second and third, respectively.
Two-year-old pacing colt Heart Of Dixie was the fastest of the freshmen with a 1:57.2 mile in his third qualifying start for trainer Blake MacIntosh.
With James MacDonald in the bike, the American Ideal-Open Book Test colt pulled the pocket to take over command after fractions of :28.2, 1:00 and 1:29.1, with filly Just Like Wilma angling out from behind and following 1-1/4 lengths back in second. Pacesetter Maskedman finished third.
Owned by Ozzie Mackay of Moncton, N.B. and Gilles Landry of Dieppe, N.B., the Winbak Farm-bred colt Heart Of Dixie was a $25,000 yearling purchase at the Harrisburg sale.
To view Tuesday's complete qualifying results, click on the following link: Tuesday's Qualifying Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.