Mohawk Racetrack hosted a 10-race qualifying session on Tuesday, July 18, and a $400,000 yearling purchase took to the track for his career charted debut, which ended in victory.
The two-year-old in question is the Luc Blais-trained and Sylvain Filion-driven Hey Jock, a Muscle Hill colt owned by the Determination stable of Montreal, Quebec.
Filion and the bay took the track for Race 6 and lined up in the six-hole. The duo timed the gate well and crossed over from their outer starting spot before trotting down to the quarter pole in :32.2.
Hey Jock and Filion then put in a leisurely 31-second quarter, as the duo went on to click-off the half-mile pole in 1:03.2. They got things much their way again in the third quarter, as Filion and Hey Jock trotted the third panel in :30.4 and flashed up 1:33.1 on the three-quarter pole.
Filion asked Hey Jock for a tad more in the final quarter, as the bay finished things off with a 29-second final panel, en route to a one and a half-length win in 2:02.1.
Blais got a good look at how his pupil performed in the dash, as the horsemen raced third through the mile with another of his students, Ex Hanover, a $115,000 yearling purchase that is also owned by Determination. Ex Hanover closed from third in the final quarter and ended up finishing a close second to Hey Jock when all was said and done.
Hey Jock is the second foal out of Sugar Wheeler, an Angus Hall mare that won eight of 26 career starts, banked $354,000 in career purses, and won her OSS Super Final for three-year-old trotting fillies back in 2012.
The session also featured another six-figure yearling buy that was making his career charted debut. The Per Henriksen-trained and driven Muscle Hill colt War Story took to the track for Race 8. The $100,000 Lexington Sale purchase started from Post 1 and trotted to a wire-to-wire victory in 2:02.4. The margin of victory was one and a half lengths. Kjell Magne Andersen of Walchwil, Switzerland owns War Story, who is out of Glide Power, a Yankee Glide mare that won seven of 25 starts and banked over $400,000 in purse earnings during her career on the track.
Another of the notables that recorded victories during the qualifying session was 2016 Battle of Waterloo winner Sports Column, who paced to a front-end, 1:54.1 victory for trainer Blake MacIntosh and driver Chris Christoforou.
To view the harness racing results for the Tuesday qualifying session at Mohawk, click the following link: Tuesday Results – Mohawk Racetrack.