The start of the 2018 ‘Woodbine, Mohawk Park’ racing season is quickly approaching, thus several talented older performers resurfaced Thursday morning (March 29) for qualifying action over the Campbellville oval.
Visibility was a bit of an issue for Thursday’s nine-race session, as fog made it difficult to see the horses from the half until mid-stretch. The track was listed as ‘fast’ with a one-second variant.
The morning’s third qualifier saw the return of five-year-old pacer Easy Lover Hanover.
The Ben Wallace trainee was sitting third heading to the half. When the horses reappeared in the lane, McNair and the ‘Easy Lover’ were on top and pacing well to a strong five-length victory in 1:54.4. Preferred regular Ellis Park finished second.
Easy Lover Hanover completed 2017 as the hottest horse on the Woodbine circuit. The Wallace-trained and Brad Grant-owned pacer won the $34,000 Preferred six consecutive times to finish the year nine for 24 with $215,487 in purse earnings.
Easy Lover Hanover is poised for a strong 2018 and is again eligible to the Canadian Pacing Derby.
O’Brien Award winner Sandbetweenurtoes made her 2018 debut in the opening qualifier and finished second, beaten a length and a quarter, to six-year-old pacing mare Mach Magic. The seven-year-old pacing mare teamed up with her regular driver, Doug McNair, for Thursday’s qualifier and sat third behind the eventual winner throughout most of the race.
Older pacers weren’t the complete story of the morning, as some notable older trotters took to the track in the second qualifier.
Five-year-old trotting mare P L Jill was victorious in the second qualifier, as she stopped the clock in 1:58.4 with driver Louis-Philippe Roy at the controls. The Renaldo Morales trainee was making her first appearance since December.
P L Jill had a successful 2017 in which she won eight of 24 starts and banked earnings of $117,105 for Prince Lee Acres. Starting in the ‘non-winners of three’ class last winter, P L Jill climbed her way up to compete in the Preferred and also competed against the sport’s top trotting mares in the Miss Versatility.
P L Jill is eligible to June’s Armbro Flight Stakes.
Luc Blais trainee Warrawee Roo finished third (seven lengths behind P L Jill) in his first qualifier of 2018. The five-year-old horse made 11 starts in 2017, with seven of those starts coming in stakes competition. Warrawee Roo is eligible to this year’s Maple Leaf Trot after having finished fourth in last year’s edition.
To view the harness racing results for the Thursday qualifying session at Mohawk, click the following link: Thursday Results – Mohawk Racetrack (Qualifying).
The next qualifying session at Woodbine, Mohawk Park will take place next Thursday (April 5) and will begin at 10 a.m.
Live pari-mutuel racing will return to Woodbine, Mohawk Park on Thursday, April 12.
(With files from Woodbine Entertainment)