Friday morning's qualifying session at Mohawk Racetrack featured a number of top female pacers and trotters gearing up for major stakes action next weekend.
Fresh off a world record performance at The Meadowlands, O'Brien Award winner Lady Shadow kicked off the morning session. In rein to driver James MacDonald, Lady Shadow carved out fractions of :27.1, :57 and 1:25.2 before sprinting home to :26.2 to trip the timer in 1:51.4. The five-year-old Shadow Play-Lady Camella mare was two-and-a-half lengths better than former stablemate and fellow O'Brien winner Solar Sister (Doug McNair).
Trained by Ron Adams and owned by David Kryway, Carl Atley, Ed Gold and the BFJ Stable, Lady Shadow boasts a seasonal summary of 5-1-1 from 11 starts and more than $363,000 in purses -- a win total equal to and a bankroll better than her award-winning campaign from 2015. Her next stakes event will be the Lady Liberty at The Meadowlands on Hambletonian Day.
Also finding success in an on-the-engine strategy were Elegant Serenity and trainer-driver Roger Mayotte. The four-year-old trotting mare did all the work in her Friday morning outing, doling out sensible panels of :28.2, :58.2 and 1:27.2 before a 28-second closer completed the 1:55.2 mile. Elegant Serenity was two lengths quicker than divisional rival Rockin With Dewey (Mario Baillargeon).
Owned by breeder Doug Millard, Elegant Serenity (Kadabra - Elegantimage) has three top-three finishes in five starts this season and is quickly approaching the half-million dollar mark in career purses. She's one of 20 mares eligible to next weekend's Fresh Yankee for older trotting mares, with Mayotte also pointing his charge to the Hambletonian Day undercard.
To view the charted results from the nine-race qualifying session, click the following link: Friday Qualifier Results - Mohawk Racetrack.