Making his sophomore season's debut, Ontario Sires Stakes winner Allstar Maniac headlined a six-pack of Woodbine Mohawk Park qualifiers as he paced back to his lifetime mark in the fastest dash of the Monday, June 9 morning session.
Allstar Maniac, who took his mark of 1:53.1 winning the $150,000 OSS Mid-Season Gold Final last August, matched that winning time in his first charted mile this year. Reunited with regular reinsman James MacDonald for his Monday outing, the Nick Gallucci trainee crossed to command ahead of four others heading into the first turn and widened his lead to eight lengths as he set panels of :29.2, :58.4 and 1:26.2. A :26.4 sprint home landed him on the line in 1:53.1 with a final margin of six lengths. His fellow OSS competitor, the two-time Gold-winning Rene Dion trainee Century Lucifer, finished second in his season's debut while Johnny Law was third.
A closing third-place finisher in the Super Final, the All Bets Off-Shes A Maniac gelding ended his rookie campaign with a record reading 2-1-2 in seven starts and $139,464 in the bank for owner Millar Farms of Stouffville, Ont.
The morning's fastest trotter was Yank My Halo, who led gate-to-wire in 1:55.4 for trainer/driver Roger Mayotte. The five-year-old Archangel-Sugarcane Yankee gelding set fractions of :29.1, :58.3 and 1:28.2 before striding home strong in :27.2, finishing 2-1/4 lengths in front of Hungry Hill and Eternally Hanover.
Yank My Halo, a seven-time winner and six-figure earner, is owned by Just In Time Stable of Mississauga, Ont., Ben Mudry of Toronto, Ont., and R A W Equine Inc. of Burlington, Ont. He has recorded four top three finishes in 10 outings this year at Mohawk, including a victory on April 21.
To view Monday's complete qualifying results, click the following link: Monday Results (Qualifiers) - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
A replay of the video stream from Monday's qualifiers is available below.
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Allstar Maniac from a previous win)