North America Cup - Horse Racing

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Pepsi North America Cup

Dateline: 06/19/01

The North America Cup at Woodbine, one of the most important races on the continent for three year old pacers, will be run Saturday night June 23rd. Sponsored by Pepsi and with a purse of $1,148,500 (Canadian) it is the richest harness race in Canada. It is also the first leg of the Grand Slam of Pacing. A horse that sweeps the four race series, which includes the North America Cup (Woodbine), Meadowlands Pace (Meadowlands), Little Brown Jug (Delaware County Fair) and the Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Colt Pace (Woodbine), wins a $1 million bonus.

Drawing the posts for the North America Cup are (left to right) Woodbine harness announcer Frank Salive, Toronto Maple Leafs players Darcy Tucker and Shayne Corson, and racing secretary Scott McKelvie.

First run in 1984, the race has featured a who's who of pacing history, with such winners as Jate Lobell, Precious Bunny, Presidential Ball, Cam's Card Shark and Gothic Dream. Last year, the bay gelding Gallo Blue Chip used his win as a stepping stone to divisional honors in Canada and Horse of the Year distinction in the United States. Pacing legend Cam Fella won the race in 1982 (when it was still called the Queen City Pace), and went on to sire four North America Cup winners: Goalie Jeff, Precious Bunny, Presidential Ball and Cam's Card Shark. 1987 winner Jate Lobell went on to sire three winners of his own: Safely Kept, David's Pass, and Gothic Dream. Perennial driving champion John Campbell has won the race an amazing six times out of ten appearances, and this year he will drive 25-1 longshot Yankee Blitz.

Shayne Corson, holding the stick, and Darcy Tucker, holding the North America Cup trophy, pose with Real Desire's driver Randy Waples.

Unlike in thoroughbred racing, almost all harness races are run at a mile and entry into the finals of major stakes races involves eliminations the week before. For the North America Cup, three elimination races were run on Saturday, June 16th. The top three finishers in each race plus one fourth-place finisher drawn at random earn berths in the final. These were won by Bettors Delight, Peruvian Hanover, and Life Sizzles, the latter posting the fastest winning time, 1:50 4/5, of the three races.

The race is the sixth on Saturday and goes to post at 9:42pm ET. It will be shown on Sportsnet in Canada and on TRN across North America or you can watch it online at the Woodbine website.

Post  Horse               Driver             Odds
  1   YANKEE BLITZ        John Campbell      25-1 
  2   REAL DESIRE         Randall Waples      9-5 
  3   BETTORS DELIGHT     Mike Lachance       6-5 
  4   HORSELAUGHTER       Tony Kerwood       30-1 
  5   HAWAIIAN COWBOY     Mike Saftic        15-1 
  6   IVE GOT LIFE        David Miller        6-1 [e] 
  7   LIFE SIZZLES        Mario Baillargeon  20-1 
  8   KLINGON HANOVER     Daniel Dube         6-1 [e] 
  9   CARDMASTER HANOVER  Luc Ouellette       6-1 [e] 
 10   PERUVIAN HANOVER    Chris Christoforou  9-2 

[e] indicates entry

On the undercard is the second-richest harness race in Canada, the $1,119,250 (Canadian) Canadian Trotting Classic for three year old trotters. Post time for the Classic is 10:57pm ET. Last year's winner, Yankee Paco, went on to win the Hambletonian in August earning him the title of Canadian Horse of the Year.

Post  Horse               Driver            
  1   Banker Hall         Trevor Ritchie
  2   SJS Caviar          Robert Blanton Jr.
  3   CJS Secret          Daniel Daly
  4   CR Kinetic          Rod Allen
  5   Fulfilled Dreams    John Campbell
  6   Victory Abroad      Johnny Takter
  7   McCooeye            Jacques Hebert
  8   Maximum Speed       T.B.A. 
  9   Bionic Ballad       Mike Saftic
 10   Amer I Can          Doug Ackerman