"I'm Worried About All Of Them"

Trainer Tony Alagna is not taking anything for granted heading into the Pepsi North America Cup. Even though Captaintreacherous has been installed as the 2-1 morning line favourite and is riding divisional honours both north and south of the border, Alagna has said he is worried about all of the combatants heading into Saturday's million-dollar showdown at Mohawk Racetrack.

"I'm worried about all of them. I think it is a nice bunch of colts. Any of those colts could hop up (and win) any time," Alagna has told the Woodbine Entertainment Group's publicity department.

Now undefeated in his two starts this year, Captaintreacherous showed grit, poise and determination during his victory last weekend during the NA Cup eliminations. The son of Somebeachsomewhere was overland past the :26.3 opening quarter, but cleared to the lead before he froze the half-mile timer in :55. The $250,000 yearling purchase was tested in the lane after having clicked off three quarters in 1:22. He repelled a stretch bid from a fresh Captive Audience, who was primed to strike off a second-over trip. When all was said and done, Captaintreacherous recorded a 1:48.4 mark-lowering victory by three quarters of a length.

Captaintreacherous - NA Cup Elimination (1:48.4)

Using Captive Audience's elimination performance as a prime example, Alagna said, "The colt tonight that was second (Captive Audience) was 30-1 and got beat half a length to our colt, so I think any of these colts can jump up and have a big night. With being No. 1 it's always tough to stay No. 1, so you have to take every competitor seriously."

There is no doubt that Captaintreacherous Racing of Versailles, Kentucky has taken all of 'The Captain's competitors seriously. In order to have their colt in top shape heading into the Cup, the connections decided to ship their charge to Ontario just days before his elimination tilt.

"You hear stories about horses getting sick when they are up here too long --- especially this time of year, springtime --- so we just felt for the best interest of the horse was to keep him home as long as possible. I had trained him Wednesday at Gaitway (Gaitway Farm in New Jersey) and he shipped Thursday morning."

Captaintreacherous will look to make his Cup-winning sire proud Saturday at Mohawk, and Alagna says that all The Captain wants to do.

"He wants to win races, tonight (NA Cup elim night) was a prime example. When he could see that horse (Captive Audience) he wanted to fight him as much as he could and he got the job done."

Captaintreacherous will start from Post 4 in the $1-million Pepsi North America Cup.

To view the harness racing entries for Saturday at Mohawk, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Mohawk Racetrack.

For free, printable program pages for Pepsi North America Cup Night courtesy of TrackIT, click here.

First-race post time for Saturday's card is 7:05 p.m. The $1-million Pepsi North America Cup has been carded as Race 7.

The Woodbine Entertainment Group has signed a deal with Sportsnet to air the NA Cup on The Score. The one-hour broadcast, a joint production between WEG and Sportsnet, is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. (EDT). It will be the first time that a standardbred race will be shot and aired live in high-definition (HD) in Canada.