Open trotter Pikachu Hanover returned to action for the first time in nearly three months with a winning qualifying performance on Monday morning (Dec. 19) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Chris Matthews drove the Gregg McNair-trained Pikachu Hanover in his 1:59 return mile, guiding the trotter through flurries and fractions of :30, :54.4 and 1:29 while building up a seven-length lead on four foes then cruising home to finish 1-1/4 lengths in front of the quick-closing Spartan General. Astre Duharas finished more than 10 lengths behind in third.
The eight-year-old son of Andover Hall and Playwood earned three wins and 13 other top three finishes earlier this year while banking more than $160,000 from 27 starts competing mostly in the Preferred/Open classes at Mohawk. The career winner of 27 races and $441,389 is owned by High Stakes Stable Inc. of Farmington Hills, Michigan.
The fastest trotting mile of the morning was a 1:57.2 mile by Brad Grant's three-year-old Gigondas as the Trixton-Magical Valentine gelding left his four rivals nearly 18 lengths in arrears with Sylvain Filion at the controls for the Richard Moreau stable.
Also on the trot, The Stable's homebred two-year-old My One Percent (My MVP-Deweyann) made his qualifying debut a winning one in 2:01.2 with James MacDonald driving for trainer Dominic Gladu.
The fastest pacing mile of the morning session was courtesy of Francois Morin's six-year-old gelding Sunny Bo, who maintained a double-digit leading margin throughout his 1:54 mile. Filion drove the Sunshine Beach-O See My Bo gelding, a seven-time winner this year who last raced on Nov. 6 at Rideau Carleton Raceway and was debuting from the Raphael Bourassa barn.
Three-year-old colt Last Beach (Somebeachsomewhere-Cannae Cammie), a half-brother to reigning U.S. Horse of the Year Test Of Faith, closed out the eight-race qualifying card with a 15-3/4-length win in 1:55.3, pacing a :28.4 final frame. Scott Young drove the Ben Wallace trainee.
To view Monday's complete qualifying results, click the following link: Monday Results (Qualifiers) - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
A replay of the live video stream from Mohawk's qualifiers is available below.