Fans Select The Best North America Cup
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After a month of voting, the fans of harness racing have selected the edition of the Pepsi North America Cup that is in their opinion the all-time best.
For decades, the Pepsi North America Cup has been Canadian harness racing's premier event and one of the most sought-after stakes event in the sport. As the million-dollar pace looks ahead to its 2021 edition this June, SC asked fans of racing to help determine the best Pepsi North America Cup of all time.
For the month of March and a few days in April, a new set of races were posted each day at 11:30 a.m. (Eastern) for fans to have their say on which North America Cup is the best. Voting was only open for each set of races for 24 hours.
With 37 editions of the Pepsi North America Cup in the history books, we've narrowed down the participants down to a group of 32 races to face off in a March Madness-style tournament bracket. In order to determine the field of 32, six races were selected at random in a preliminary round. The winner of the prelim round, plus the other 31 editions of the Pepsi North America Cup, comprised the field of 32.
The two editions of the Pepsi North America Cup that faced off in the finals were 2008 and 2012. The 2008 edition, won by Somebeachsomewhere, advanced to the finals with 70.8% of the votes over 2019 (won by Captain Crunch). The 2012 edition, won by Thinking Out Loud, advanced with 61.5% of the votes over 2003 (won by Yankee Cruiser).
Based on the comments left by those fans that voted, it's clear that there are a number of factors that go into what justified their selections of the North America Cup editions they felt were the best through the five weeks of the competition. Here are a few of the notes sent in throughout the past month in favour of the eventual winner.
"The feeling in the crowd that night was electric. The hair on the back of my neck still stands up when I watch this one."
"Is there any doubt. Will be a very long time before we see another like him."
"A stride for the ages, so easy to go sub 1:50."
"I had the great pleasure of filling in for Ken Middleton Sr. at Elmira Raceway in 1982 on several occasions and he would be mighty proud of this call, Ken Jr."
"Most dominant win by any horse ever. Should win the entire thing."
"I flew from Newfoundland to watch Somebeachsomewhere race in the Pepsi North America Cup. What a thrill to be there to witness that race. Awesome."
"Best horse ever."
"It was exciting simply because it was HIM."
"The call and simply the best horse of this era."
"Somebeachsomewhere was just so powerful to cut fast fractions and still win with ease in 1:49."
"I could watch this a hundred more times."
"Scintillating! Goosebumps!!"
"I still cry every time I see this race. SBSW was in a class of his own. Sure miss him."
"You gotta go with Canada’s horse...Just listen to the crowd in 2008. Incredible feeling."
As voted by the fans, here's the best Pepsi North America Cup ever, a race that took place 4,676 days ago but likely for some feels like it was just yesterday: the 2008 Pepsi North America Cup captured by Somebeachsomewhere and driver Paul MacDonell at Mohawk Racetrack.
The 2008 edition emerged victorious from the finals over 2012 (won by Thinking Out Loud), after receiving 56.3% of the votes. Here is the full March Madness-style bracket of the contest.
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