While there was an abundance of star power in Friday's qualifying session at Woodbine Mohawk Park, O'Brien Award winner Alicorn was conspicuous by her absence.
There's no need for alarm, according to trainer Chantal Mitchell.
"After I entered her they put out the revised (Ontario Sires Stakes) schedule and now she doesn’t have a race until June 29, so there’s no need to qualify this week," Mitchell told Trot Insider. "Especially when they put on the condition sheet for next week that qualified horses aren’t allowed to re-enter. There really wasn’t a need to go this week."
Alicorn earned $536,907 during her rookie season, which included victories in three OSS Gold Legs and the OSS Gold Super Final, Eternal Camnation, with runner-up finishes in the Shes A Great Lady, Battle Of The Belles and her Breeders Crown elimination. The daughter of Bettors Delight - Mythical took a lifetime best of 1:50.3 for Mitchell, owners Windermere Stable LLC and Robert Muscara and driver Louis-Philippe Roy.
Expect to see Alicorn qualify in one week's time to prepare for her highly-anticipated sophomore season.
"If the new stakes schedule would have been out before I entered I wouldn’t have entered her. But it came out afterwards so I had to seriously look at what her path would be to prep for the first OSS Gold leg on June 29. And to me qualifying today wasn’t the best path," continued the trainer. "And being a horse with seven wins and a larger earning level she doesn’t have any conditioned races to enter either."