Fresh off his weekend victory in the $1-million Pepsi North America Cup, Captaintreacherous has set his course for Pocono Downs, as he is one of 22 horses that has been entered to contest eliminations for the Max C. Hempt Memorial this weekend at the Pennsylvania oval.

The three eliminations have been carded as Race 3, Race 7 and Race 10. The first two elims will feature seven-horse fields, while eight combatants will line up for the third tilt.

The Tony Alagna-trained and Tim Tetrick-driven Captaintreacherous has drawn Post 4 in the third elim. ‘The Captain’ will be facing off with Vegas Vacation (PP1, Brian Sears), Joeythewarhorse (PP6, Doug McNair) and Rockin Amadeus (PP8, Yannick Gingras), among others.

The first elim will feature Emeritus Maximus (PP1, Doug McNair), Lonewolf Currier (PP2, Brian Sears) and Word Power (PP7, TBA), among others.

The second elimination will feature Wake Up Peter (PP3, Ron Pierce), Evenin Of Pleasure (PP4, Doug McNair) and Martini Hanover (PP6, Dave Palone), among others.

The fields for the elimination appears below.

Elim 1
Post – Horse – Listed Driver
1 – Emeritus Maximus – Doug McNair
2 – Lonewolf Currier – Brian Sears
3 – Johny Rock – Andy Miller
4 – Good Day Mate – Ron Pierce
5 – To Beach His Own – Ray Schnittker
6 – Source Of Pride – David Miller
7 – Word Power - TBA

Elim 2
Post – Horse – Listed Driver
1 – Sunfire Blue Chip – Yannick Gingras
2 – Duel In The Sun – Tyler Buter
3 – Wake Up Peter – Ron Pierce
4 – Evenin Of Pleasure – Doug McNair
5 – Ultimate Beachboy – George Napolitano Jr.
6 – Martini Hanover – Dave Palone
7 – Beach Memories – Matt Kakaley

Elim 3
Post – Horse – Listed Driver
1 – Vegas Vacation – Brian Sears
2 – Dedis Dragon – Matt Kakaley
3 – Scalped – Montrell Teague
4 – Captaintreacherous – Tim Tetrick
5 – Some Kinda Beach – Marcus Miller
6 – Joeythewarhorse – Doug McNair
7 – Sir Richard Z Tam – Pat Lachance
8 – Rockin Amadeus – Yannick Gingras

Many other stakes elims will go postward Saturday at Pocono. The track has issued a press releases that takes a quick look at the other action. The release appears below.

Pocono’s Saturday Program Preview

There are 11 stakes race eliminations on the Saturday card at Pocono Downs, with horses earning their way into competition next Saturday, dubbed ‘Sun Stakes Saturday,’ that will be worth almost $2-million in purses.

A total of 15 three-year-old pacing fillies in the two eliminations for the $300,000 James Lynch Final have bankrolled a combined $3.6-million in a little more than one season, and two have beaten 1:50 already this year: I Luv The Nitelife, who won the Fan Hanover Final last week, and Ms Caila J Fra, who defeated ‘Luv’ and another top Lynch contender, Jerseylicious, in a recent NJ Sire Stakes Final. Oh, and there’s Somwherovrarainbow, who is merely defending division champ.

A total of 24 three-year-old trotting colts, less than two months away from the Hambletonian, start their quest for the $1-million PA bonus for winning the Earl Beal Trot, the Colonial, and the Breeders Crown (which will all be at Pocono) by racing three elims for next week’s $500,000 Beal Final. The ‘hot shooter’ in this group --- which has collectively earned $3.8-million and has 13 entrants who have bettered 1:55 already this season --- is Smilin Eli, perfect in three career races, but starting ‘behind the eight-ball’ in his Saturday elim.

A total of 22 from the sport’s ‘glamour division,’ three-year-old pacing colts, will go at it in three elims before the $500,000 Max Hempt Memorial next week. And right now, in a collective group with $5.1-million banked and eight under 1:50 already in 2013, the big focus will be on ‘The Captain,’ Captaintreacherous, last season’s Pacer of the Year who kicked off his 2013 campaign right at Pocono and now returns to town off a triumph in the year’s first seven-figure race, last Saturday’s $1-million Pepsi North America Cup Final at Mohawk.

And that’s just the three-year-olds. There are 20 older horses brought together for elims towards the $500,000 Ben Franklin Final on the Sun Saturday Stakes card, and they just may be the best overall field of horses ever assembled. Their collective accomplishments are mind-boggling:

• $23.9M in career earnings – that’s right, the AVERAGE career bankroll of this field approaches $1.2 million, headed by the sport’s richest-ever pacer, Foiled Again ($4,895,444);
• An AVERAGE career mark of 1:48.2, with 13 of the 20 already hanging up a sub-1:50 triumph in 2013;
• The defending Franklin champ, Betterthancheddar; the defending U.S. 3YO (Heston Blue Chip) and older (Foiled Again) champions; the horse who beat this group most recently, in the Roll With Joe at Tioga, Pet Rock; and the fastest horse ever on a five-eighths-mile track, Bolt The Duer (1:47.4f).

Wow! What a card!

The first of Saturday’s 14 races at Pocono is set to go at 6:30 p.m. The Lynch fillies are in Races 1 and 5; the Beal trotters are in Races 2, 6, and 9; Hempt colts are slated for action in the 3rd, 7th, and 10th; and the free-for-all monsters will go in Races 8, 11, and 12.

You just don’t like harness racing if you’re not anxious to see this card’s action unfold, and to see who earns spots for the $2,000,000 Sun Stakes Saturday card a week later.