A pair of the sport’s top distaffers and a young up and comer put their best hooves forward on Tuesday (October 11), as the Meadowlands Racetrack and Mohawk Racetrack each hosted compact qualifying sessions during the morning.
All The Time took to the track for Race 2 during the Meadowlands’ five-dash qualifying session. The three-year-old Muscle Hill filly left from the rail with driver Yannick Gingras, cut all the fractions (:28.3, :57.2, 1:26.1) and closed with a 29-second final quarter. All The Time’s margin of victory was six and a quarter lengths and her win time was 1:55.1.
All The Time, who is trained by Jimmy Takter, won the Hambletonian Oaks earlier this year at the Meadowlands. Unfortunately, emergency colic surgery followed soon after. The filly’s connections – Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld, who are also All The Time’s breeders – held their collective breath, as the bay’s racing future and life were up in the air at that point. When all was said and done, All The Time pulled through, as evidenced by her return qualifying mile on October 4. The 1:52.1 qualifying mile over the revered Red Mile oval in Lexington Kentucky equalled the division’s national season mark – a mark which she had previously set while winning the Hambletonian Oaks over the Meadowlands on August 6.
After All The Time finished doing her thing during the Big M qualifying session on Tuesday, multiple O’Brien Award winner Bee A Magician took to the track and was also in search of her second consecutive qualifying win off a significant layoff. Driver Brian Sears was in the sulky for trainer Richard ‘Nifty’ Norman. Bee A Magician may have started from Post 3, but her journey to the wire was similar to that of All The Time. Bee A Magician left the hardest, cut all the fractions (:28.4, :57.3, 1:25.2) and cruised home for an open-lengths win. Her final quarter was clocked in :28.1 and her win time was 1:53.3. Bee A Magician won by almost ten lengths.
Bee A Magician is three for three in pari-mutuel races this season, even though she was forced to take an unexpected hiatus from the betting public this year. Norman, told Trot Insider last month that the career earner of $3.96-million in purses had suffered a soft-tissue injury while in the paddock. One of Bee A Magician’s co-owners, Mel Hartman, has said that the connections have been very careful bringing her back. Bee A Magician’s first qualifier off the shelf came on October 4 at Harrah’s Philadelphia. Hartman co-owns the mare along with Herb Liverman and David McDuffee.
North of the border, at Mohawk Racetrack in Campbellville, Ont., a pair of promising juveniles from the stable of trainer Casie Coleman – Candlelight Dinner and Ideal Wheel – were also busy putting in some qualifying miles Tuesday morning.
American Ideal filly Candlelight Dinner was up first. The winner of four of seven career races took to the track for Race 3 and lined up in Post 1. Pilot Jonathan Drury fired the bay out, and at one point had an absolutely enormous lead. Candlelight Dinner was ahead by four and half lengths at the opening quarter (:28.2) and by 12 and three-quarter lengths at the half-mile pole (:56.4). The lead was 23 and a half lengths at the third station (1:24.2) and 25 lengths at the head of the stretch. Drury geared Candlelight Dinner down the rest of the way, as the duo closed with a :29.1 final quarter. Still, the winning margin was a whopping 19 lengths, and the mile was clocked in 1:53.3. Candlelight Dinner is owned by Mac Nichol, Let It Ride Stables Inc., and Howard Taylor.
Coleman’s Champlain Stakes winner, Ideal Wheel, capped off Mohawk’s seven-dash qualifying session with a victory for Drury. The two-year-old son of American Ideal started from the rail and was third to the opening quarter (:28). He made his move in the second quarter and was on top by more than five lengths by the time he buzzed the half-mile pole in :57.2. Ideal Wheel zipped along the final turn and expanded his lead to more than 18 lengths by the time he clicked off the third station in 1:25. Drury and his mount were almost nine lengths the best at the head of the lane, and came home with a :30.3 final quarter when all was said and done. The winning margin was three and a quarter lengths and the win time was 1:55.3.
To view the harness racing results for the Tuesday qualifying session at Mohawk, click the following link: Tuesday Results – Mohawk Racetrack (Qualifying).