Grand Circuit stakes-winning freshman Stonebridge Helios clocked the fastest mile of the Tuesday morning (Oct. 5) qualifying session over an off track at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
In the first of eight qualifiers, the Ontario Sires Stakes division standout Stonebridge Helios carved out fractions of :28.4, :58.1 and 1:26.4 before kicking away from the field with a :26.2 final frame to score in 1:53.1 by more than eight lengths over the 'good' track. The maiden rookie Control Sicily and Gold Series rival Kolby Two Step followed in second and third.
Bob McClure was back in the bike after partnering with the Sunshine Beach-Ken Doll J colt for their Champlain Stakes score on September 11. The John Pentland trainee was perfect in his three Gold Series starts and has finished no worse than second through his first six races. A $25,545 London Selected Sale yearling purchase, Stonebridge Helios has banked $268,710 already for Pentland and his co-owners, John Fleischman and breeder Angie Stiller.
The youngster is prepping for the OSS Super Finals, which will be contested on Saturday, Oct. 16 at Mohawk.
"We were hoping to go around 1:54 today," Pentland told Trot Insider. "He seemed to handle that qualifier well. Bob said he shook his head a bit at the three-quarters (like he wanted to go) so he let him pace from there. We were definitely very happy with him."
On the trot for the second two-year-old qualifier, Gold winner Safe Conduct led all the way for the husband and wife, driver and trainer team of Chris and Camilla Christoforou.
He posted fractions of :29.4, :59.2 and 1:29.3 before pulling away to a 1:57.4 victory. Two-time winner Threepointbluechip, a Walner half-brother to millionaire mare Plunge Blue Chip, overtook the maiden three-year-old colt Tymal Tempo to finish second, 2-3/4 lengths behind Safe Conduct.
A five-time starter, Safe Conduct is looking to return to his winning form that earned him a maiden-breaking Gold victory on August 19 and top 10 spot in the season's standings. Owned by Charalambos Christoforou and Banjo Farms, the homebred Archangel-Safekeeping colt has banked $37,266 to date.
A pair of debuting two-year-olds were also among Tuesday's qualifying winners. The Explosive Matter filly Illbeneedinstitches rallied from third, trotting home in :28.2 to prevail in 2:01.1 by a half-length over leader Enjoy The Moment for driver Mike Saftic and trainer Shawn Steacy. Katies Bet, a son of Betting Line trained by Mike Bishop, went wire-to-wire, closing out his 2:02 mile with a :28.3 final quarter in rein to Sylvain Filion.
To view Tuesday's complete qualifying results, click on the following link: Tuesday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.