With trainer Blair Burgess at his lines, bay Chocolatier colt Southwind Warsaw became the first two-year-old of the season to win a qualifier in Canada during the Friday morning qualifying session at Mohawk
Racetrack.
The duo kicked off the eight-race session by firing out from Post 6, cutting all the fractions (:33.2, :104.2, 1:33.4) and closing in 29 seconds for a five and three-quarter-length victory in 2:02.4.
Southwind Warsaw (Chocolatier--Win B, by Tagliabue) was a $20,000 yearling purchase at the 2010 Lexington Selected sale and is owned by Bob Burgess, Karin Olsson Burgess and the Uncirculated Stable.
Race 2 saw the Mario Macri-trained and Chris Christoforou-driven freshman colt Boysgotfever (Daylon Boy--Cinny Fever, by Astreos) make the lead before the opening half-mile and pace to a four and a quarter-length victory in 2:00.4.
The third and final two-year-old qualifier of the morning took place in Race 3, where the Symon Pryjma-trained and Aaron Byron-driven filly Grins Little Flirt (Grinfromeartoear--Pacific Hurricane, by Cams Card Shark) took a front-end trip and paced to a three and a quarter-length victory in 2:02.3 via a :27.1 final quarter.
Lyons Elite, who is still eligible to the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup even though he has yet to make his 2011 pari-mutuel debut, put in his second qualifying effort in as many weeks during Race 4.
With Luc Ouellette at his lines, the three-year-old Life Sign colt --- who has been listed at odds of 80-1 in Trot Magazine's 2011 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book --- started from Post 3 and sat third along the rail through splits of :29, :58.1 and 1:26.3. When Ouellette called for pace late in the mile, Lyons Elite responded, as he closed with a :26.4 final quarter and got up for a nose victory in 1:54.
Race 5 saw veteran Balanced Image gelding Harlequin close and trot off to a 1:58.1 victory for his trainer, Geoff Maltby, who was in the racebike.
The sixth dash of the morning saw the Casie Coleman-trained speedster Kyle Major record another solid qualifying performance with an open-length 1:52.4 victory for driver Jonathan Drury.
The final two races of the morning were won by Pursuit Of Dream (1:56.2) and Herbies Lenu (2:00.4), respectively.
For results from Sunday's card of harness racing, please click the following link: Friday Results - Mohawk Racetrack (Qualifiers).
Please note that while
Please note that while Southwind Warsaw is the first two-year-old to win a qualifier in Canada this year, the first two-year-old to qualify was Winbak Tess.