by Karen Briggs, WEG Media

Campbellville, ON — Sophomore trotting filly Windsong Soprano put in her first charted mile of the year this morning at Mohawk, winning her qualifier in 1:57.2.

A winner of $324,932 at two, the daughter of Windsong’s Legacy-Muscling In captured the Peaceful Way Stakes and a division of the Bluegrass Stakes at the Red Mile. Trained by Bob McIntosh for Lothlorien Farms of Cheltenham, Ontario, the big-stepping filly stayed out of trouble this morning while several of her compatriots made breaks, cruising in third behind Stonebridge Diva (Randy Waples) and Dutchess Seelster (Trevor Ritchie) and then angling out to prevail by two lengths for driver Steve Condren.

“She’s right on schedule,” commented assistant trainer Tracy Wilcox. “She wintered well and matured a bit. That was just about the mile we wanted for her this morning. We’ll go once more, next week, and then we’ll aim her for the Casual Breeze (on Friday, June 12).”

Also among McIntosh’s five entries in this morning’s qualifying session was 3-year-old pacer Go West Lucky Cam, who had a promising start to his 2-year-old season in 2008, winning three of four starts before health problems forced him to be scratched sick from the Champlain Stakes in September and shut him down for the remainder of the season. He paced a confident mile for Steve Condren, beaten a head by Lee Ave (Sylvain Filion) and stopping the clock in 1:56.2.

McIntosh’s well-prepared string won three of their five qualifiers, in fact. In the first, it was 3-year-old pacer Lucky Herb by a nose in 1:55.4 for Condren; in the fourth, sophomore Panjour Monsieur got the job done by 5-3/4 lengths in 1:55.2; and the remaining entry, trotting colt Dr Cal, was third in his qualifier to Mr Escadar, driven by Roger Mayotte for trainer Chris Beaver in 1:59.1.

The final qualifier of the morning was won by Tony Montini trainee Misterizi, who trotted home 17 lengths ahead of his nearest rival to stop the timer in 1:56.1 for Rick Zeron. Misterizi, a 6-year-old son of Mr Lavec, is freshly home from a May stint at The Meadowlands, where he took a stab at the Classic Series, the Arthur J. Cutler, and the Su Mac Lad.

Mohawk to host 2-year-old qualifying races

Mohawk Racetrack will host its annual 2-year-old qualifying races beginning Saturday, June 13, at the Campbellville oval.

Fans will have a chance to come out and see the future stars of the sport while enjoying free hot dogs and refreshments.

The 2-year-old qualifying races get underway at 10:00 a.m. and will be hosted for four consecutive Saturdays with a fifth date also scheduled if necessary.

Here is a look at the complete schedule for the freshman qualifying races at Mohawk:

Saturday, June 13
Saturday, June 20
Saturday, June 27
Saturday, July 4
Saturday, July 11 (if necessary)

— Greg Blanchard also contributed to this report