The first of two full baby race sessions was conducted on Friday (June 9) at Woodbine Mohawk Park, with a trotter clocking the fastest time of the eight dashes.
Ladies First was the order of the day as fillies flaunted it on Friday before male pacers and trotters have their chance over the seven-eighths mile oval on Saturday, June 10.
Friday's forecast was much different than past days, with rain prompting judges allowing three to four seconds over the course of the session.
In that final dash with a three-second allowance, Tactical Strike was an ultra-impressive winner in the fastest mile of the morning. The daughter of Tactical Landing - Sorceress Seelster made every call a winning one for driver James MacDonald, making the lead in :31.4 then trotting evenly with three consecutive 30-second fractions to hit the wire 11 lengths the best in a time of 2:01.4.
Desiree Jones trains Tactical Strike for owner Gino Toscani on Mount Hope, Ont., who purchased the filly at the 2022 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale for $80,000.
Jack Darling has a big void to fill in his barn now that Bulldog Hanover has been retired to stud duty, but horses like Diamond Girl might help the Hall of Fame trainer add some winner's circle photos to his collection going forward.
The daughter of All Bets Off - Beach Of A Time made the top in her qualifying debut for driver Jody Jamieson, yielded to Black To Reality (Sylvain Filion) in the third stanza, then willingly passed that rival in the lane while pacing her final quarter in :29 over the off going for a 2:02.2 winning mile. She was three parts of a length better than Sweet Report (Rick Zeron), who showed good late kick to finish second.
A homebred of Jack Darling Stables Ltd., Diamond Girl is a half-sister to the likes of Ontario Sires Stakes graduate Neon Moon p,3,1:51.1s ($182,646).
The full stream video stream from Friday's session is available below.
For results from the qualifying session, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers).