Stars, Cup Eligibles Qualify At Mohawk
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Mohawk Racetrack hosted a nine-race qualifying session on Monday morning (May 15) which featured a returning O’Brien Award winner and three-year-old pacers eligible to the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup.
After having been away from charted miles since her victory in the Matron Stakes last fall, two-time O’Brien Award winner Caprice Hill made her 2017 qualifying debut in Race 2 for trainer Tony Alagna, driver Doug McNair, and owner Tom Hill (of Hamilton, Ont.). The career winner of 15 of 25 starts and $1.22 million in purses started from Post 6 and raced third through the majority of the mile. The Kadabra mare would finish second in her tilt, though. She was individually timed in 1:56.2 and finished four lengths in arrears of the victor.
The winner of the dash was the Luc Blais-trained and Sylvain Filion-driven Lookslikeachpndale, who got the job done in 1:55.3. The five-year-old son of Muscle Hill left from Post 2 and made it to the lead after the :29.3 opening quarter. The bay went on to cut the middle fractions in :58.1 and 1:26.4 before capping things off with a :28.4 final quarter. Lookslikeachpndale is owned by the Determination stable of Montreal, Quebec.
In the next tilt (Race 3), another O’Brien Award winner was putting in some more prep work, as Beyond Delight, the 12-1 fourth choice in Trot Magazine's 2017 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book, made his second qualifying effort of the year.
Sylvain Filion was at the controls of the Tony O’Sullivan trainee, as Beyond Delight started from Post 2 and made every pole a winning one. The son of Bettors Delight sliced the fractions in :28.2, :57.3 and 1:26.2 and came home with a :28.1 final quarter. The colt’s win time was 1:54.4 and the margin of victory was a head. Beyond Delight is owned by Jeffrey and Michael Snyder (of New York, NY) and the Four Friends Racing Stable (Moorestown, NJ).
Later in the card (Race 7), NA Cup eligible McMac (55-1 in Trot’s Spring Book) parlayed a front-end mile into a 1:54.3 victory for trainer Bob McIntosh and driver Paul MacDonell. The Mach Three colt started from Post 6 and raced wide past the 28-second quarter pole before settling down on the pylons. The bay went on to cut the middle fractions in :56.1 and 1:25.3 before cruising home in 29 seconds. The win time was 1:54.3 and the margin of victory was a neck.
Blayde Hanover (1:54.1), I Jasmin (1:59), Major Master Piece (1:55.4), Janderson (1:58.1), Jake (1:56.3) and Witch Dali (1:55.2) also recorded wins during the session.
To view the harness racing results from the Monday qualifying session at Mohawk, click the following link: Monday Results – Mohawk Racetrack (Qualifiers).