Mystician and Prodigal Seelster each made their 2011 charted debuts Thursday morning during a star-studded qualifying session at Mohawk Racetrack. The Camluck colts are embarking on their quest for the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup.

Earlier this spring, each of the colts were ranked in the top 10 in Trot Magazine‘s 2011 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book. The pair joined six others to contest Race 3 Thursday morning. The dash was sent forward under pristine conditions at the Campbellville, Ont. oval.

Having left from Post 4 with pilot Jody Jamieson in tow, the Jeff Gillis-trained Mystician (the 22-1 eighth choice in Trot‘s Spring Book) was first to the quarter in :29.1. It was in the second quarter when Jamieson yielded to driver Randy Waples, who was at the lines of Prodigal Seelster.

The Dave Menary-trained Prodigal Seelster, the 18-1 sixth Spring Book choice, led the field through middle splits of :57.2 and 1:26.1 before kicking into another gear coming for home. Prodigal Seelster opened up lengths on his foe in the final frame. He came home in 28 seconds; posted a five and three-quarter-length margin of victory over Mystician. Prodigal Seelster threw a win time of 1:54.1 up on the board.

The 2010 season proved to be standout campaigns for each of the colts. Prodigal Seelster banked $479,455 and tallied victories in the Battle of Waterloo, his category of the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Finals and a division of the Nassagaweya Stakes. Mystician pocketed over $808,000 on the season and earned victories in the consolation of the Metro Pace and captured a pair of OSS Gold Series finals.

Afterward, Jamieson revealed that Mystician appears to be fighting something at this point.

“He was just ‘okay,'” said Jamieson. “We had him scoped right after by ‘Doc’ Hennessey and he’s showing a lot of mucous today. I knew there was something wrong with him. He wasn’t himself today. He didn’t charge out of the gate the way he usually does, and he really didn’t want much of anything as far as going fast in a race. They’ll treat him up and that might just set us back to a 10-day rotation as opposed to a one-week. We’ll see what happens and see how he heals up.”

(courtesy Standardbred Canada & WEG)