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p of familiar faces is scheduled to face the starting gate Monday morning (May 6) during Woodbine Mohawk Park’s nine-race qualifying session. An O’Brien Award recipient, some major stakes winners from 2018, and North America Cup eligibles are all set to be in action.


The session, which is scheduled to get underway at 10:00 a.m., will see the Determination-owned and Luc Blais-trained tandem of Forbidden Trade and Dream Together each take their turns trotting some tightening miles.


Forbidden Trade, the O’Brien Award winner as Canada’s top two-year-old trotting colt of 2018, will continue to prep for his three-year-old campaign in Race 8. The Kadabra colt has drawn Post 5 and will be trotting in his third consecutive Monday qualifier. He hit the wire first last week in 1:58.2.


Dream Together, a five-year-old daughter of Muscle Hill, will start from Post 4 in Race 6. The mare is heading into her 2019 campaign off of a solid four-year-old season in which she captured the Dr. John R. Steele Memorial and the Joie De Vie Stakes south of the border. Dream Together won six of her 17 races last year and banked $260,000 during the campaign.


Forbidden Trade and Dream Together are each scheduled to be driven by Dan Dube, who drove the trotters during last week’s qualifying action.


A trio of three-year-old pacers eligible to June’s Pepsi North America Cup is also scheduled to be in action during the session, as Bronx Seelster, Shadow Of A Daut and Blank Canvas are set to make appearances.


Bronx Seelster, who was last season’s Battle of Waterloo winner, is scheduled to start from Post 4 in Race 4 for trainer Wayne McGean and pilot Louis-Philippe Roy. The brown Big Jim colt won a division of the Champlain Stakes in 2017 and hit the wire first in seven of his 12 freshman starts. He banked $383,000 for the Capers 3 Stable (of Sydney, NS) and put himself on the radar as a top N.A. Cup contender heading into the season. He recorded his first charted line of 2019 last Monday when he posted a 1:55 win during qualifying action at the Campbellville, Ont. oval.


The Michel Rivest-trained and Mike Saftic-driven Shadow Of A Daut is set to square off against Bronx Seelster in Race 4. The gelded son of Shadow Play will start from Post 6 and will be looking to rebound from the break he made during last Monday’s qualifying session. Shadow Of A Daut, who is owned by Claude Poirier (Havre-Aux-Maisons, QC), won two of his 10 races as a freshman and took his mark of 1:54.2 over Mohawk.

 

Race 7 will feature fellow N.A. Cup eligible Blank Canvas from Post 4. The gelded son of Art Major is set to pace his first charted line of 2019 during the session. Casie Coleman trains the bay for the West Wins Stable (Cambridge, Ont.), Robert Darrow (Dublin, OH), and A Harris Racing LLC (East Windsor, NJ). Blank Canvas notched a trio of wins in lower conditions last season, but was also stakes-placed in a division of the Champlain in which he was individually clocked in 1:52.2.


Other notable horses that are scheduled to qualify at Mohawk on Monday include Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots and Gold winner Powerful Chris (Race 2) and Ontario Harvest Series winner Cool Clifford (Race 3).