With the Pepsi North America Cup less than a month away, trainers are quickly putting the finishing touches on their Glamour Boys – and that includes trainer Mark Steacy
.
Steacy had Foreclosure N in action at Mohawk Racetrack on Monday morning, and the three-year-old son of Rocknroll Hanover-Pleasing Package A had little problem winning his first qualifier of the season in 1:55.1.
The colt, who is listed at odds of 15-1 in Trot Magazine's Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book, settled just off the lead through fractions of :29.2, :59 and 1:27.2 for driver Sylvain Filion before using a :27.1 final quarter to blow by the leaders en route to the 1-1/2 length score. Another Cup-prepping youngster, Arsenal, who is 50-1 in the Spring Book, paced his mile in 1:55.2 to finish second.
“I think he went real well,” said trainer Mark Steacy after Foreclosure N's qualifier. “I was
talking with Sylvain and he was very happy with him. He paced strong through the wire, there is a little wind coming up the stretch too. I was hoping for a little faster qualifier.”
“I think we better get him into a race and get him a little more prepped up,” Steacy added. “Qualifiers aren’t the same. We want to go into the Somebeachsomewhere Stakes in two weeks, so hopefully we can get a race for him next Saturday.”
Foreclosure N assembled a 5-1-2 record and stashed away more than $236,000 in his freshman season. He took a lifetime mark of 1:52.1 at Pocono Downs when he won his elimination of the Breeders Crown.
Arsenal went 1-2-0 in nine starts last year for trainer Igor Vrablic, who watched the son of Artiscape-Truculent Lady put away more than $44,000 on his card. He earned a speed badge of 1:55 at Mohawk in just his third lifetime start.
The other qualifying winners from the Monday morning session were Lilia Axe (1:56.3), Taxi Fare Hanover (1:57.2), First Flower (2:01.2) and Aled Hanover (1:54.4).
Effective Friday, May 27, qualifiers will return to a Tuesday and Friday schedule. As a result, there will be no qualifiers on Thursday, May 26.
Here is a look at the modified Mohawk summer qualifying schedule until the end of July:
Two-Year-Old Qualifying Schedule:
Saturday: June 4
Saturday: June 11
Friday: June 17 *
Saturday: June 25
Saturday: July 2
Remaining Qualifying schedule for May 2011:
Tuesday: May 31
Friday: May 27
Complete Qualifying schedule for June 2011:
Monday: June 13
Tuesday: June 7, 21, 28
Thursday: June 16
Friday: June 3, 10, 17, 24
Saturday: June 4, 11, 25
Complete Qualifying schedule for July 2011:
Tuesday: July 5, 12, 19, 26
Friday: July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
Saturday: July 2
(With files from WEG)
To view results for Monday's qualifiers, click the following link: Monday Results – Mohawk Racetrack.
Related story:
North America Cup Spring Book - #5.