O'Brien Award-winning trotter Logan Park made his season's debut for trainer Kyle Fellows in the mid-April Monday morning qualifying session at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Reunited with regular reinsman Doug McNair for his first charted mile of his six-year-old campaign, Logan Park crossed in front of four others and set fractions of :29.3, :59.2 and 1:28.2 before sprinting home for the 1:55.1 victory over the fast track. The Ben Baillargeon-trained mare HP Mama B stayed on Logan Park's back the entire mile and finished 1-1/2 lengths behind in her second qualifier of the season with Louis-Philippe Roy in the bike. It was 11 lengths back to another Fellows trainee as Esplosione (Jody Jamieson) edged by Ontario Sires Stakes graduate Musical Ride (Sylvain Filion) for third. Logan Park and HP Mama B both trotted a :26.4 final quarter, the fastest of the 11 qualifiers regardless of gait on the 10 degree spring day.
Logan Park earned a dozen wins from 20 starts while banking $348,970 of his million-dollar bankroll last year en route to being named Older Trotting Horse of the Year. His victories included numerous Free-For-Alls at Mohawk (three times winning in a 1:50.3 Canadian all-age gelding trot record) as well as his Breeders Crown elimination at Hoosier Park before a fourth-place finish in that $600,000 final. The Archangel-Rite Outa The Park gelding is owned by the Outofthepark Stable, breeder Reg Higgs and Arpad Szabo.
Logan Park's O'Brien Award-winning little sister Willys Home Run (James MacDonald) also stepped out for the first time this year during Monday's session and was individually timed in 2:00.1, finishing fifth in a 1:59.2 qualifier won by Blake MacIntosh's season-debuting Champlain Stakes runner-up Cold Snaps (Jamieson), who prevailed by a neck over Connie Chisholm's five-year-old mare Halo Its Heaven (Tyler Jones) and three-quarters of a length ahead of the sophomore-debuting stakes filly Cool Ma Belle (Bob McClure) from the Shawn Steacy barn.
McNair also drove multiple Ontario stakes-winning trotter Osceola to a 1:56 triumph for his father Gregg. The four-year-old son of Muscle Mass out of Armbro Exquisite led all the way through splits of :30, :59.2 and 1:28 before more than doubling his margin to 8-1/4 lengths through a :28 final frame in his return to Canada after a miscue in a Sunshine Meadows qualifier a week ago. The Luc Blais-trained Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots champion Salem Seelster (Roy) made his second qualifying appearance of his sophomore season and followed in second throughout with two-time Gold winner Griff (MacDonald) debuting in a third-place finish for the Murray Brethour stable.
The fastest mile of the morning was from Bluegrass Stakes winner Command, kicking off his four-year-old season for new connections with a 1:52.1 commanding score. Filion guided the pacer through panels of :27.3, :56.2 and 1:25.1 before capping it off with a :27 kicker to draw away from OSS grads Sauble Ace (McClure) and Reign Supreme (Tyler Borth) by 6-1/2-lengths. The Captaintreacherous-Fable gelding, who earned eight career wins from 25 starts and nearly $360,000 in purses racing from the Brett Pelling stable as a youngster, is now trained by Marie Helene Dupont and owned by Ecurie CSL.
A replay of Woodbine's video stream of the qualifiers is available below.
To view Monday's complete qualifying results, click the following link: Monday Results (Qualifiers) - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada; Photo of Logan Park winning in 2023 at Mohawk)