During Mohawk Racetrack qualifiers this morning, Il Villaggio, who was pegged to trot the fastest three-year-old mile (1:51) in 2010 by Stan Bergstein's Experimental Ratings, surfaced for the first time since suffering a leg injury earlier this spring

.

The Yankee Glide colt, who won six of eight races and over $488,000 last year for trainer Erv Miller, was relocated to the stable of conditioner Blair Burgess after having sustained the injury. Il Villaggio, who captured divisions of the Champlain and Bluegrass Stakes and swept the William Wellwood Memorial Trot at two, last raced pari-mutuelly October 16, 2009 in the Breeders Crown where he made a break in the stretch and finished off the board.

This morning, with 'Trottin' Trevor Ritchie in the bike, Il Villaggio started from Post 5 in the eight-horse ninth race. The pair sat fourth through fractions of :29, :57.3 and 1:27.1 and trotted home with a solid quarter-mile, given the layoff.

Over a 'fast' track which was assessed a variant of one second, Il Villaggio came home with a :28.1 final quarter mile and finished second. He was individually timed in 1:56.2 and finished one and three-quarter lengths behind Emmylou Who, which was a wire-to-wire winner in 1:56.

Myron Bell of Brittany Farms talked to Trot Insider about Il Villaggio's return after the qualifying mile.

"He had the injury in May and we decided to bring him back to the races with Blair about three months ago," co-owner Myron Bell told Trot Insider. "The horse qualified excellent and we plan to bring him back here next Friday again."

Bell stated that there were no definite plans for Il Villaggio's future after the two qualifiers, but he did state that last year's driver Tim Tetrick would once again be named as the colt's regular driver.

"In my eyes, he basically an undefeated colt," continued Bell, "He broke in the two starts he lost. He'll need some seasoning to catch up to the others but we'll let him tell us who he is. The only plans are that there's no plans."

With the Breeders Crown eliminations set for October 2, Bell was unsure as to whether Il Villaggio could be back in form that quickly. If there was a debut against open competition, it would likely be during the Grand Circuit meet at the Red Mile later in October. Bell also indicated the colt could possibly come back to race at four.

There were 10 other dashes during the qualifying session.

To view the charted results from the qualifying session, click here.