Breeders Crown champion Coach Stefanos opened his 2025 season with a sharp qualifying win on Wednesday, April 16 at Southern Oaks Training Center in Florida.

After tracking in the pocket though fractions of :27.1, :56.2 and 1:24.4 in the morning's first qualifier, Coach Stefanos took off to win in a 10-length romp, stopping the clock in 1:51.3 over the 'good' track. The fleet-footed five-year-old pacer completed the mile with a :26.3 final frame for the father and son, training and driving duo of Erv and Marcus Miller. 

The millionaire Tellitlikeitis-Watch N Be Watched gelding, who finished nine of his 20 races last year with fourth quarters faster than 26 seconds, is owned by Illinois's Kenneth Duffy, D And M Trading Ii and John Stefanos. 

A pair of Dr. Ian Moore-trained North America Cup eligibles, Tip Of Time and pacesetter Glowing Lou, completed the field while making their second qualifying starts of the season.

The fastest qualifier of the morning was a 1:51 mile courtesy of another Moore-trained Cup eligible, Prince Hal Hanover, who is ranked 11th at odds of 30-1 in TROT Magazine's 2025 Spring Book. Driven by David Miller, the Captaintreacherous colt out of Moore's former O'Brien Award winner Percy Bluechip sat a two-hole trip through splits of :27.2, :55.3 and 1:23 then opened up three lengths on his stablemates, Ohio Sire Stakes graduate Clever Cody and O'Brien Award filly finalist Odds On Platinum. The Metro Pace runner-up, who earned more than $390,000 during his freshman campaign, took a new lifetime mark in the qualifier, knocking a tick off his previous best established in his first charted mile of the season a week ago. 

In another qualifier comprised of Moore trainees, Set Shot and Miller converted off a pocket trip to defeat fellow Cup eligible Joel And The Jets by half a length in a 1:54.3 mile ahead of Ontario Sires Stakes graduate Storm Shadow.

Standardbred Canada posted the full odds for TROT Magazine's 2025 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book on Tuesday, April 15.

(Standardbred Canada)