At one point, the winner of the William Wellwood Memorial gained automatic entry into the Mohawk Million. That's changed, but the connections of the 2025 Wellwood winner have secured their spot nonetheless.

According to Scott Zeron, driver of 2025 Wellwood Memorial winner Ardonne, the Mohawk Million slot originally owned by Brad Grant has been obtained by Ardonne's owner, Philip Steinberg of Weston, Fl.

Early next week, the names of the horses dropped into the box to compete in the 2025 Mohawk Million will be revealed and Ardonne will surely be one of the main contenders. The son of Tactical Landing - Burberry has assembled a 2-3-0 record in his six outings for trainer Megan Scran and won both of his starts on Canadian soil with the Wellwood sweep in August.

On Friday, Sept. 12, Ardonne sharpened for his Million appearance with an in-hand 1:54.3 mile, cutting all the fractions and closing under a snug hold in :28.2.

"He was pretty fresh today," said Zeron after the qualifier. "Hopefully we have a good draw and we have a great chance."

Time in a qualifier doesn't matter all that much, but it's noted that the mile from Ardonne was the fastest qualifying time on the trot during a session that included both national award winners and Canadian record holders.

A starter in the 2024 Mohawk Million, O'Brien Award winner Monalishi minded her manners on Friday morning and uncorked a 1:55.3 mile for driver James MacDonald, trainer / co-owner Blake MacIntosh and co-owner Tim Klemencic. The daughter of Green Manalishi S - Pretty Phylly G cut all the fractions and hit the wire more than 10 lengths better than her rivals as she preps for a return to action since being sidelined with a hoof issue. 

Two-time O'Brien Award winner Logan Park made his first appearance since a sixth-place finish in his Maple Leaf Trot elim, and the seven-year-old son of Archangel uncorked a :55.2 back half for a 1:55.2 tally with regular pilot Doug McNair up. Fadeaway Hanover (MacDonald) followed along in second ahead of an unstressed Emoticon Legacy (Louis-Philippe Roy) in third. Kyle Fellows trains Logan Park for Outofthepark Stable, Reg Higgs and Arpad Szabo of Ontario.

The stablemate to Logan Park, rookie pacing filly A Clean Deal showed the most disdain for her morning counterparts with the fastest mile of the morning — a 1:52 scorcher with McNair at the controls, pacing her back half in :54.2 and coming home in :26.3 to best her rivals by nearly 18 lengths. The daughter of Cattlewash - Ideal Talker is owned by Yolanda Fellows, Blair Corbeil, Windermere Stable LLC and James Ross.

The full video stream is available below. 

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

(Standardbred Canada)