The Friday (April 29) session of qualifiers at Woodbine Mohawk Park featured a number of top performers from 2021 powering through impressive miles in advance of the 2022 stakes season.
One of the brightest stars of the Ontario Sires Stakes program last year was two-year-old trotting filly Adare Castle, and she appears poised to regain her spot atop the division as a sophomore. In the morning's first qualifier, driver James MacDonald hustled Adare Castle away from the outermost post in the field of eight and the talented trotter was never seriously threatened after landing on top. After fractions of :29.3, 1:00 and 1:30.1, Adare Castle willingly trotted home under her own volition to trip the timer in 1:58 with a length and a half to spare over Socks N Crocs (Doug McNair).
Adare Castle (Muscle Mass - Pacific Edge) is owned by trainer Mark Etsell of Rockwood, Ont., and he co-owns with Robert Newton of Walkerton, Graham Hopkins of Chesley, and Peter Porter of Port Dover, Ont. The O'Brien Award finalist amassed a record of 7-2-0 from her nine two-year-old starts and banked more than $486,000 for her connections.
Another O'Brien Award finalist at two, pacing filly Silver Label made her second qualifying start of the season during the Friday session and appears ready for pari-mutuel action. MacDonald followed similar tactics here, fronting the field and playing catch-me-if-you-can through panels of :28.1, :58.1 and 1:27.1 before sprinting home in :26.3 to conclude a 1:53.4 mile a pair of lengths better than divisional rival Fade Out (McNair).
Silver Label (Bettors Delight - Hidden Gem) has been successful in both of her qualifying outings thus far for trainer Nick Gallucci and owner / breeder Millar Farms of Stouffville, Ont. She'll look to build on a solid rookie campaign that boasted six wins and two runner-up efforts from eight appearances with more than $341,000 in earnings.
The seventh qualifier of the morning featured three O'Brien Award winning trotters — Pemberton, On A Streak and 2019 Horse of the Year Forbidden Trade. Pemberton was the only one of that trio making his second qualifying appearance of the season, and now he's been successful in both of his tests. Taking a year off to recover from injury, the five-year-old Pemberton was unhurried through the opening three quarters for trainer / driver Paul Walker but he stormed home with a :27.2 final quarter to pick off Forbidden Trade (Bob McClure) by a neck in a 1:56.4 effort. On A Streak (Samuel Fillion) was more than two lengths back in third.
Bred and owned by Brenda Walker of Owen Sound and Christine Walker of Tara, Ont., Pemberton (Wheeling N Dealin - Dayshifter) sports a 8-0-1 summary from 10 lifetime starts — all at age three — with more than $363,000 in the bank.
Of the 15 dashes during the qualifying session, none were faster and the argument could be made that none were more impressive than the performance from Powertrain. After making a miscue in the lane last week, Powertrain paid attention to his task and definitely understood his assignment on this occasion. With driver Sylvain Filion at the controls, Powertrain sped through splits of :27, :55 and 1:22.4 before a :27.2 final quarter to hit the wire five lengths the best in a brisk 1:50.1. Divisional rival and 2021 Horse of the Year Desperate Man (Trevor Henry) was next best.
Another homebred from the nursery of Millar Farms — the 2021 Armstrong Breeder of the Year — and trainer Nick Gallucci, four-year-old Powertrain (Shadow Play - Mmmillion Blue Chip) comes into 2022 as a serious threat. His mark of 1:48.2 was taken on the 2021 North America Cup undercard and was more than a second faster than the main event. He boasts a 5-2-1 summary from 11 starts with more than $201,000 stashed away thus far.
The video stream from the Friday session is available below.
Full results from Friday's qualifiers are available at the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers)