"I like what I see, and if I'm right that he will keep raising the bar with each start, they will know he's a horse they'll have to beat."

While initially slated to make his first appearance of 2017 on Friday, 2016 O'Brien Award winner Beyond Delight will kick off his sophomore season with a qualifier on Monday morning at Mohawk Racetrack.

"I was hoping to qualify [Friday] and then in a week's time with the idea of sending him to Pocono Downs in Pennsylvania to race in a sires stake event there," trainer Tony O'Sullivan told the Hamilton Spectator. "Now that may change, but I'm just not sure."

"Obviously, the schedule is geared to the North America Cup at Mohawk in June. One wants him to peak at the right time but it might end up that he stays in his own stall at Classy Lane Training Centre until then. He'll tell me."

A son of Bettors Delight out of the Rocknroll Hanover mare Outtathisworld, Beyond Delight won three of 11 races and more than $423,000 for Snyder, his son Michael and the Four Friends Racing Stable of Moorestown, N.J. His three wins were major ones as he swept the elimination and final of the Metro and won a division of the Champlain Stakes, all at Mohawk Racetrack. He was named Canada's Two-Year-Old Pacing Colt of the Year for 2016.

On Monday, Beyond Delight will be reunited with driver Sylvain Filion in the morning's 11th qualifier (weather permitting). The Monday session is loaded with North America Cup eligibles like Beyond Delight, including a number of sophomores that also cracked the Trot Magazine Spring Book top 10 -- #9 pick Ideal Wheel (Q1, PP5), #3 choice Sports Column (Q9, PP4) and #6 selection Streakavana (Q9, PP6). Sports Column was rated as the fourth pick, listed at 12-1.

O'Sullivan is most certainly looking forward to seing Beyond Delight get behind the gate again, as he noticed how much better the horse performed with a more consistent workload.

"An error was made in giving him too much time off after winning the Champlain Stake in September. I have learned that he is a better horse while he is racing. He needs to get behind that starting gate to get his focus," said O'Sullivan.

Perhaps this compressed schedule coming up will serve as a blessing in disguise, noting that his great grandsire also responded favourably to a solid schedule. That horse was none other than the great Cam Fella.

To view the entries for Monday's 14-race qualifying session, click the following link: Monday Qualifiers - Mohawk Racetrack.