A change in schedule brought two-time O'Brien Award winner Adare Castle back to the track twice this week at Woodbine Mohawk Park as the millionairess prepares for her five-year-old season.

With Bob McClure once again at the controls during the session of qualifiers on Friday, May 17, Adare Castle sat patiently behind stablemate Jokic (Mark Etsell) through fractions of :28.1, :57.1 and 1:25.4 before storming home in :28.1 for the 1:54.2 decision over a hard-closing Bella Cavalli (Louis-Philippe Roy). 

"We were planning on going in 1:54. That was a plan," co-owner and trainer Etsell told Trot Insider after the qualifier. "We schooled her in 1:58, the plan was to go in :56 on Monday and she went in :57...and we were going to go in :54 next Monday and race her from there but we got pushed up three days."

Adare Castle (Muscle Mass - Pacific Edge) sports a mark of 1:52 taken at Mohawk with more than $1.35 million in purses. Co-owned by Bob Newton of Walkerton, Graham Hopkins of Chesley and Peter Porter of Port Dover, Ont., Adare Castle is a two-time O'Brien Award winner (2022 and 2023) and three-time finalist. In 42 appearances, she sports a summary of 20-9-2 and she'll look to add to those impressive totals with a return to the racing wars in a few weeks time.

According to Etsell, he's hopeful to race Adare Castle once in an overnight race at Mohawk before the first leg of Miss Versatility Series on June 1 prior to a planned attempt at the Armbro Flight.

Of note, there will be no qualifiers at Mohawk on Monday, May 20 with the next session slated for Friday, May 24.

The full video stream from the morning session is available below. 

For results from the qualifying session, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers).

(Standardbred Canada)