Three-year-old trotting filly Stubborn Chee opened a brief qualifying session at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Tuesday morning, June 18 with a career-best mile.
Trained and driven by Matt Bax, Stubborn Chee crossed to command from post six to lead the field of three-year-olds through a :28.2 first quarter and was on a mission, refusing to let the first turn pocket-popping Art Icon by to the half in :56.2. She opened up seven lengths to three-quarters in 1:24.4 and trotted strong through the wire to lower her lifetime mark to 1:53.2, the fastest mile from the quartet of Tuesday morning qualifiers. The Luc Blais-trained filly Fala narrowed the runaway leader's gap late, finishing 4-3/4 lengths behind in second, and it was 20 lengths back to third-place finisher Art Icon.
Regrouping after making breaks in her last two starts, Stubborn Chee knocked more than one full second off her career-best time from her May 23 victory at Mohawk. Al Libfeld's homebred filly by Muscle Hill out of 2014 O'Brien Award winner Stubborn Belle was last year's Pure Ivory Series champion and has recorded three wins from 10 starts with $64,500 in purse earnings so far in her career. She is eligible to the late summer Elegantimage Stakes at Mohawk.
A replay of the video stream from the qualifiers in available below.
To view Tuesday's complete qualifying results, click the following link: Tuesday Results (Qualifiers) - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
(Standardbred Canada)