by Karen Briggs, WEG Media

Campbellville, ON, — Monday morning (Oct. 5) saw Warrawee Koine put in her first charted mile since finishing a distanced 11th in the Sept. 6 Simcoe Stakes at Mohawk.

The black Astreos daughter, who went unraced at two but began her career as a sophomore with four consecutive wins, including a sweep of the Silver Reign series at Woodbine this past March, paced home third to Cavin Hanover (Phil Hudon) in 1:57.1, for driver Mike Saftic and trainer Gregg McNair.

Four other qualifiers went postward on this damp fall morning. In the first, 2-year-old pacer Mensch, a son of Oye Vay, made his career debut a winning one, coming home 1-1/2 lengths ahead of three rivals after the rest of the field suffered judges’ scratches. A homebred owned by Ian Fromowitz and trained by John Pentland, Mensch stopped the timer in 1:58.4 for Mike Saftic.

Striking Lindsey bested four others in the second qualifier, trotting his mile in 2:00.2 for Luc Ouellette. The sophomore son of Striking Sahbra is another homebred, owned by Ken Sommer, and is trained by McNair. A winner of $216,810 as a freshman, Striking Lindsey has been struggling to regain that form this season, with just one win and $51,981 to show for his efforts.

Eagle On It made his first appearance on Canadian soil since March, winning the third qualifier by just shy of two lengths in 1:56.3, despite an early break in stride. The 5-year-old gelded son of Grinfromeartoear, owned by Frank Dettore and driven by Ouellette, had been racing at the Meadowlands for Mark Ford this summer, but has been off since August. Four days ago, he put in a qualifying effort at Pocono Downs, finishing fourth.

Rick Zeron piloted his pupil What A Muscle to the win in the penultimate qualifier, trotting the mile in 2:02. The 4-year-old gelded son of Muscles Yankee had struggled with breaks in stride in his last two starts but stayed true this morning to finish 1-1/2 lengths ahead of CR King Triton (Phil Hudon).