The connections of 49 three-year-old pacers made the April 15 sustaining payment for the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup. One of those eligibles made his 2016 charted debut during Mohawk Racetrack’s Monday (May 2) qualifying session, and he overcame a couple of obstacles to hit the wire first.

The N.A. Cup eligible in question is New Talent, a Mach Three gelding trained by Robert McIntosh. Randy Waples was up behind the bay Monday morning, and the duo started from Post 2 in Race 7

The first of New Talent’s obstacles was a ‘good’ track that was rated three seconds slow by the presiding judges. The second obstacle was that New Talent made a break in the opening quarter. He was charted as being 10 lengths back in fourth by the time the opening quarter was reached in :28.4.

Waples got New Talent back on his game after the initial break and sent the homebred to the lead. New Talent erased his deficit in the second quarter and had opened up a two-and-quarter-length lead by the time he passed the half-mile marker in :58.2.

The rest of the field didn’t just fold during the back-half of the mile, though. New Talent faced first-over pressure on the final turn, but held a head lead when he clicked off the three-quarters-of-a-mile pole in 1:27.4.

New Talent still had gas in the tank for a solid final quarter. He found himself almost two lengths back in second at the head of the homestretch, but he stepped up his game for Waples again when it mattered. New Talent refused to throw in the towel in the stretch and ultimately prevailed by a half-length. The win time was 1:55.4 and New Talent closed with a :28 final quarter.

New Talent is a homebred of Robert McIntosh Stables Inc. (of Windsor, Ont.), the CSX Stables (Liberty Center, Ohio) and Al McIntosh Holdings Inc. (Leamington, Ont.). New Talent has been pegged as a 50-1 shot in Trot Magazine’s 2016 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book

To view the results from the Monday morning qualifying session at Mohawk, click the following link: Monday Results – Mohawk Racetrack (Qualifying).

Trot Insider has been tracking the progress of the N.A. Cup eligibles via the N.A. ‘Cup-Date.’ To view the May 2 ‘Cup-Date’ (that lists the eligibles that are in-to-go as of May 2, 2016), click here.

The list of 49 three-year-olds that are still eligible to the N.A. Cup (via the April 15 sustaining payment) appears below.

ALL THE COOKIES
AMERICAN PASSPORT
ARSENIC

BEAST MODE
BETTING LINE
BETTOR MEMORIES
BIG TOP HANOVER
BOSTON RED ROCKS
BROOKDALE SONNY

CHECK SIX
CONTROL THE MOMENT
CRUISE PATROL

DR J HANOVER
DREAMFAIR MESA

EASY LOVER HANOVER

FLAHERTY

GOOD LIVING

HIGHLANDBEACHYCOVE

IDEAL ROCKY
IM SOME GRADUATE
INSPIRATION VIEW

JDS CHANCEY DESIGN

KATIES ROCKER
KOKANEE SEELSTER

LYONS SNYDER

MAGNUM J
MAJOR HILL
MANHATTAN BEACH
MAX IS BACK
MICHAELS VICTORY
MINDTRIP
MYSTICAL ROCK

NEW TALENT
NOCTURNAL BLUECHIP
NVESTMENT BLUE CHIP

PRETTY BOY HILL

RACING HILL
ROCK POWER
ROLLAROUNDTHEWORLD

SOME GOLD
STONEBRIDGE BEACH
SUTTON SEELSTER

TAP INTO POWER
THE CATAMOUNT KID
THINK ON IT
TOM HILL
TOTALLY GREAT
TRAVEL PLAYLIST

VORACITY

(The Woodbine Entertainment Group has indicated on its website that this list is 'subject to changes.')

Total horses: 49

February 15 nominations – 58 horses
Mar 15 sustained – 53 horses