The Thursday morning (Feb. 25) qualifying session at Woodbine Mohawk Park featured 11 events, with the track listed as "fast" and the temperatures just below freezing.
Millenium Seelster opened the morning with a 1:55.3 effort when rolling out of third to the lead into the final turn. The five-year-old Sunshine Beach gelding competes for owner-trainer Charalambos Christoforou and had Chris Christoforou at the reins.
The fastest pacing mile of the day went to Outlawgrabbingears, who sizzled the cold dirt to a 1:54 victory by open lengths. Trainer-driver Paul Davies dashed the five-year-old Smart Shark gelding to the point and cruised through a clip of :28.3, :57.1 and 1:24 before opening a 13-and-three-quarter length lead on second-place finisher Fire Storm K T. Somewherentuscany finished third. Davies co-owns Outlawgrabbingears with Nicole Davies and Deborah Pinel.
Final Claim went the fastest trotting mile of the session with a 1:57.1 effort. The five-year-old Muscle Hill gelding circled to the lead off a :29.1 first quarter and continued on the point through middle splits of :58.4 and 1:28.1 to then cap the mile with a :29 final quarter and beat pocket-sitter Arrakis by three-and-three-quarter lengths. Sortie finished another five lengths behind in third. Mario Baillargeon drove Final Claim for owner Rick Heinz and trainer Benoit Baillargeon.
The pair of fresh Alberta shippers hit the track again on the qualifying card. Rockinwithcustard, who scored an upset victory in the Alberta Diamond Final last year, set a pace of :30.4, :59.1 and 1:29.2 in her qualifier but faltered in the stretch to finish a 2:00.3 mile. Her stablemate Major Custard, who won 17 straight when competing in Alberta and British Columbia, paced a 1:55.4 mile to finish third by five-and-a-half lengths in his qualifier behind Better Take It.
The Thursday morning qualifying session is available in its entirety below:
To view Thursday's qualifying results, click on the following link: Thursday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifier).