Tuesday morning's qualifying session at Mohawk Racetrack featured horses of all gaits, sexes and ages. But the fastest mile came from a talented three-year-old trotting filly gearing up for a return off a brief layoff.

 

Caprice Hill hadn't logged a charted mile since her emphatic 1:53.3 win in an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold leg on June 13, three weeks ago. With pilot Randy Waples at the controls, Caprice Hill was unsatisfied with the moderate early tempo and commenced her bid for the lead through the :29.2 opener. After landing on the front, she carved out fractions of :57.2 and 1:25.4 before punctuating the mile with a :28 closing panel to trip the timer in a sizzling 1:53.4 -- more than 11 lengths better than her closest rival.

 

Owned by Hamilton, Ont.'s Tom Hill and trained by Tony Alagna, Caprice Hill (Kadabra - Bramasole) boasts a 9-3-1 summary from 13 lifetime starts and more than $701,000 in career purse earnings. Alagna told Trot Insider that her next start will come on Saturday, July 16 in the next OSS Gold leg at Mohawk.

 

Of Tuesday's 12 qualifiers, Caprice Hill's time even bested that of fellow 2015 O'Brien Award winner L A Delight. With Waples at the controls, the sophomore daughter of Bettors Delight held off the late bid of pacing colt Easy Lover Hanover (Jody Jamieson) to win her Tuesday morning test in 1:54.3.

 

Bred and co-owned by trainer Bob McIntosh, L A Delight (Bettors Delight - West Of L A) was making her first on-track appearance since her third place finish on the 2016 Fan Hanover Final. She's got nearly $840,000 in the bank from her 13-1-2 summary in 17 lifetime starts.