“I applaud (his connections) for doing it. It’s great for the industry. He will be one of the favourites and he deserves to be.”

The talk of the harness racing industry for the past week has been three-year-old colt Captaintreacherous taking on older foes -- including Foiled Again and Pet Rock -- in the $512,000 TVG Free For All Series Championship for pacers.

Captaintreacherous will try to become the first prominent three-year-old male pacer in more than 30 years to defeat older rivals in a stakes-caliber event. Niatross was the most recent three-year-old colt pacer to win against older foes in a major race when he captured the 1980 American Pacing Classic at Hollywood Park.

Captaintreacherous received an invitation to the TVG final as the result of winning the Breeders Crown for three-year-old male pacers in October.

Driver John Campbell, who has been competing against the "The Captain" for the majority of the season with Sunshine Beach, likes the idea of racing the top three-year-old against the older horses and thinks the three-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere is "capable of winning the race" on Saturday. Campbell will once again compete against Captaintreacherous, this time aboard drive Canadian-connected Modern Legend from post two.

Although 15-1 on the morning line, Modern Legend was third in last week’s TVG FFA preliminary leg for owner-trainer David Drew of St. Catharines, Ont. and third in the Breeders Crown. In between, Modern Legend was seventh in the Preferred at Woodbine, but Campbell said the horse scoped sick afterward.

“He’s shown he can be competitive with this group,” Campbell said of Modern Legend.

(with files from HRC)