Although the Milton/Campbellville area was pounded by rain this past weekend, the Rick Zeron-trained and driven Lady Rainbow tried to break up the dreariness when she put forth the first charted mile of her 2011 campaign during Mohawk Racetrack's Monday morning qualifying
session.
Zeron stepped out on to the track with Lady Rainbow to contest Race 5. After lining up in Post 1, Zeron floated the three-year-old daughter of Muscles Yankee off the gate and worked out a three-hole ride, which the career winner of $212,989 took through opening fractions of :29.1 and :59.3.
Zeron had the Bluegrass and International Stallion Stakes victor out and racing on the final turn, as the pair was overland and a half-length off the leader at the 1:29.1 third call.
Coming home with a solid :28.2 final quarter, Lady Rainbow went on to record a two and three-quarters of a length win in 1:57.3.
“She left the gate out of the one hole this morning, got away third. She was very comfortable in there," Zeron told the Woodbine Entertainment Group afterward. "I moved her out and we hit the head of the stretch, one of the drivers inside hit a wheel disk and she heard that and just took off.”
Zeron stated that Lady Rainbow will be pointed to the Casual Breeze Stakes, to be raced at Mohawk on June 3. “She trots without knee boots now,” he said. “That was her biggest problem last year, she was touching her inside knee and making a break. That won’t happen this year.”
Lady Rainbow's performance was followed up by another qualifying effort from Mystician, the eight overall pick (22-1) in Trot Magazine's 2011 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book.
With pilot Jody Jamieson in the bike for trainer Jeff Gillis in Race 6, Mystician started from Post 4 and went on to record a gate-to-wire victory in 1:54.2. The Camluck colt cut the fractions in :28.2, :58.4 and 1:27.2 before firing home with a 27-second final quarter. The margin of victory was two and a half lengths.
“We think we are on the right track," Gillis told WEG. "He scoped with a bit of mucous last week, I wouldn’t have called him sick, but he was less then 100 per cent.
“To be honest, it is a tough day to judge speed. There has been a lot of rain and it’s been a cool, blustery morning,” Gillis said. “I guess I am happy based on how poorly he qualified the first time."
Mystician's win came over another NA Cup eligible, Arsenal (50-1 in Spring Book), who was making his 2011 charted debut.
Race 7 saw O'Brien Award winner Windsong Soprano make her second qualifying effort of the year for driver Randy Waples and trainer Bob McIntosh. The daughter of Windsongs Legacy went straight to the top from Post 5 and cut the fractions in :29.1, :59.2 and 1:28.4. She came home with a :28.1 final quarter to record a 10 and three-quarter-length win in 1:57.
The session had kicked off with 2010 O'Brien Award finalist Kandor Hanover posting a half-length win over Yursa Hanover in 1:57.3 for driver Randy Waples and trainer John Burns.
The third dash of the morning saw the Bill Companion-trained and Sylvain Filion-driven Undercover Strike record a one and a quarter-length victory in 2:00. The win came over the Jeff Gillis-trained and Randy Waples-driven Sim Brown, who was putting in his first charted line since racing in the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Finals last fall.
The Bob McIntosh-trained and Randy Waples-driven Art Z captured the fourth race by one and a quarter lengths over Bunkhouse Babe, who paced her first charted line of her three-year-old campaign.
For results from the Monday qualifying session, click the following link: Monday Results - Mohawk Racetrack (Qualifiers).