On Wednesday morning one of the top rated pacing colts set foot on the track for his first qualifier of the season, and that colt was Malicious

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With trainer and co-owner Dr. Ian Moore at the controls, the Bettors Delight-Silky colt carved out fractions of :28.1, :56.0 and 1:25.0 over the Southern Oaks Training Center oval before pacing home in :29 to hit the wire in 1:54, with stablemate and Battle of Waterloo winner Wellthereyougo (Emmett Bernard Jr.) back in second.

Moore told Trot Insider earlier this year that Malicious, ranked at 15-1 in the Trot 2010 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book, would be staying stateside until closer to the date of Canada's richest harness racing event.

"If all goes well then we’ll be leaving for the north probably somewhere around the 27th or 28th of April," said Moore. "and he’s going to stay in the U.S. for a while .... He’s going to do either the Hempt or the Empire Breeders Classic for New York-breds in May and perhaps the Rooney down here too, I’m not sure yet. But he’ll likely stay in the U.S. for a while, we have a couple of options there."

In 2009, Malicious banked more than $348,000 with an impressive rookie resume that included eight wins from 12 seasonal outings. Moore shares ownership in Malicious with NHL legend Serge Savard and RG McGroup Ltd.