by Ashley Mayotte, WEG communications

Campbellville, ON — Crys Dream, the sport’s 2010 champion 2-year-old trotting filly, qualified at Mohawk on Friday morning (April 29), under dreary weather conditions, preparing for what could be a lucrative 2011 campaign.

The Henrik Hollsten-trained 3-year-old filly would not let the field get any closer than six lengths as driver Jean Pierre Dubois gave the bay her head at the three-quarter pole, leaving a 20 length gap between her and the remainder of the field at the wire in 1:58.

Following the qualifier, Dubois stated that the daughter of Taurus Dream trained well over the winter after a strong 2-year-old season. Her freshman campaign garnered a lot of attention after winning seven races in eight starts with a bankroll of $584,392. Her stakes wins included the $502,000 Goldsmith Maid and $452,020 Peaceful Way Stakes.

The 3-year-old filly remains eligible to the C$550,000 Elegantimage Stakes and the Casual Breeze Stakes at Mohawk.

Yursa Hanover and Tiz To Dream are both one step closer to making their first pari-mutuel starts of 2011 after recording second qualifiers.

Yursa Hanover finished second in 1:57.4, shaving more than two seconds off of her April 21 qualifying time. Mario Baillargeon qualified the 5-year-old daughter of Windsong’s Legacy for his brother, Ben.

“She trained real well (over the winter) and has put on a lot of weight,” said the Milton resident. “I think she is a little stronger this year so hopefully she’ll do as good as last year, maybe even better.”

Richard Berthiaume of Pointe-Aux-Trembles, Quebec owns the miss who has career earnings of $861,430.

Looking ahead to Yursa Hanover’s 2011 campaign, Baillargeon hints at a Breeders Crown (October 29 at Woodbine) appearance once again and is confident the 5-year-old mare will go over the $1 million mark.

“She’s got a lot of races in the Untied States so I probably won’t drive her a lot this year,” stated Mario. “We’ll start her up here. I know the Breeders Crown is up here this year, so we’ll see down the road.”

After qualifying in 1:57.4 on April 21, the Gregg McNair trainee Tiz To Dream finished second in Friday’s qualifier in her own time of 1:56.2.

“She’s a littler stronger than she was last week,” said McNair. “There were some decent horses in there, geldings and such, so she went right with them.”

It’s not the first time Tiz To Dream was in against talented horses, as the lass had a successful 2010 Ontario Sires Stakes campaign, winning four of her nine series starts. The daughter of Grinfromeartoear ended 2010 with a record of 6-2-3 in 17 starts, banking $357,490 in seasonal earnings, bringing her lifetime total to $644,614.

The 4-year-old mare had some minor problems to overcome through her winter training.

“She trained down alright,” he stated. “She still has the same muscle soreness problems. It’s chronic. She’s been a ‘tie-up’ mare all her life.”

McNair plans to make her 2011 racing debut next weekend. As for the rest of the year, he is playing it by ear.

“She’s made quite a bit of money as a 2- and 3-year-old, so we paid her up into some of the fillies and mares stakes at Woodbine and Mohawk,” he said. “If she comes around she’ll start in some of them, but right now we are just looking at the (Fillies and Mares Open).”

Also there were a few North America Cup eligibles who made appearances at Friday’s qualifying session, which included the Casie Coleman-trained Betterthancheddar (1:55.3) and A And Gs Express (1:55.2) and the Bruce Gilkinson trainee Just Asign To Me (1:56.2).