Driver Ships In For Determination

Reinsman Bob McClure has been out of action since being injured in the serious racing accident that occurred during last Thursday’s qualifying session. One of his regular drives, Forbidden Trade, was qualifying Monday morning (April 29) at Woodbine Mohawk Park, and trainer Luc Blais called in a big gun from south of the border to be in the sulky.

Yonkers Racetrack regular Dan Dube, who has won more than 9,000 career races and driven his mounts to over $121 million in purse earnings, made the trek to Mohawk on Monday to get up behind Forbidden Trade.

Forbidden Trade took to the track for the second race on docket, which saw winds push the starters into the first turn and home through the stretch.

Dube took a cautious early approach with Forbidden Trade, as he and the O’Brien Award-winning Kadabra colt floated out from Post 8 and found themselves in fourth as the opening quarter flashed to life in :28.3.

Dube tipped Forbidden Trade out for a first-over advance in the vicinity of the 1:00.1 half-mile pole, and the three-year-old was ready to do some work on the outside. Forbidden Trade raced well while first over on the turn, and went on to click off the third-quarter timer in 1:30.3.

The final panel was no cake walk for Forbidden Trade, who won seven of his 11 freshman starts and banked $300,436 in purse earnings in 2018. The brown Blais-trained colt had to fend off the stubborn A Royal Line (who was driven by Sylvain Filion) on the outside while he also had to deal with Royale Elite (James MacDonald) who was still rolling along the pylons.

When all was said and done, Forbidden Trade ultimately showed his class for Dube, as he held off his foes and went on to notch a gritty win in 1:58.2.

Forbidden Trade, who is owned by the Determination stable of Montreal, Que., won four Ontario Sires Stakes Gold races last year prior to winning his $225,000 OSS Gold Final at Mohawk in October.

Dube also steered another Determination starter for Blais during the qualifying session, as he led the returning Dream Together to a close third-place finish in Race 6.

Race 1 featured the 2019 charted debut of Bronx Seelster, the Wayne McGean-trained son of Big Jim who has been assessed as the 18-1 eighth choice in TROT Magazine's 2019 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book.

Louis-Philippe Roy was at Bronx Seelster’s lines for the dash, and the duo started from Post 7. They found themselves stalking the pace early, as they sat fourth through the :28.3 opening quarter and :58.2 opening half mile.

Roy called on the 2018 Battle of Waterloo winner in the third quarter of the tilt, and the brown colt began to narrow the margin between himself and the lead as the three-quarters clock was clicked off in 1:27.3.

The career winner of seven of 12 races and $383,910 in purse earnings continued to chug through the stretch. Bronx Seelster had to race three-wide through the lane, but ultimately prevailed with a nice tightening win in 1:55.

"I think he went a good mile," trainer Wayne McGean told Trot Insider. "The fractions were really good – getting home in :26.3 was exceptional.

"On my way to the qualifiers in the truck, it was showing four degrees and it was pretty windy. He came out of it [really well]. He was a handful after the qualifier and now he has his head buried in the feed tub, so that's a good sign."

McGean plans to qualify his colt again next Monday.

Bronx Seelster is owned by the Capers 3 Stable, of Sydney, NS.

To view the harness racing results for the Monday qualifying session at Mohawk, click the following link: Monday Results – Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers).