Even though his Modern Art gelding Haul Away won the $472,500 Upper Canada Cup this past weekend and is now the richest three-year-old male pacer in Canada this season, trainer Dave Menary is remaining
cautiously modest in regard to his chances in Mohawk Racetrack's $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup.
In an interview with Greg Gangle of the Woodbine Entertainment Group, Menary said that the elation has subsided somewhat from Haul Away's 1:51.4, one and a quarter-length victory at Georgian Downs on Saturday. "I guess I've come down a little from Saturday night, but we're all pretty happy," said Menary, who stated that everyone else seems to be analyzing the statistics more than he is. "I guess you guys are counting numbers more than we are, but everything is going super so far."
One thing that Menary and the connections of Haul Away (Larry Menary, Denis Breton, Phil Silvestri and Joseph Settimi) are counting are dollars. Haul Away's winner's share ($236,250) of the Upper Canada Cup purse has sent the bay's season earnings to $251,030. In 14 career starts, Haul Away has now banked $449,550.
"I really had him aimed for the Upper Canada Cup," the trainer explained. "As far as Ontario colts go, that was really his biggest race of the year. We've saved him for the North America Cup, but it's kind of like playing Junior 'A' or playing in the NHL (National Hockey League). The Upper Canada Cup is a great opportunity for everybody -- it's almost like four (Ontario Sires Stakes) Gold finals in one. We trained him back and we had optimistic expectations for him. We aimed him for it (the Upper Canada Cup) and everything just fell into place."
"I definitely think he ranks right up there as far as Ontario-sired colts go -- it's really hard to say," Menary said. "The other night he had the rail, got a perfect trip and was able to capitalize on it. He had a flat tire. Tim (driver Tim Tetrick) said that if he pulled him a little bit earlier and didn't have a flat tire that he would have probably won by 10 (lengths). But there were a lot of good colts in the race. Twin B Warrior, he did all the work, but we capitalized on it. There were other colts that drew bad and did a lot of work off [an opening half-mile] of :56. There were other good colts that weren't paid into it or didn't make the final, so we'll see how the rest of the sires stakes go."
When asked how Haul Away -- who has been gauged at odds of 42-1 in Trot Magazine's 2010 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book -- would stack up against Grand Circuit colts and gelding, Menary chose a modest approach.
"As far as colts in North America, I'm very happy with Haul Away so far, but it's a whole different league with the North America Cup. It's very hard to gauge racing at the Meadowlands at two o'clock in the afternoon and racing at Georgian (Georgian Downs) at 10 o'clock at night or Hoosier Park at nine o'clock at night. So, I'm pretty happy with him so far.
"His first start of the year he was up against older horses which had paced in (1:) 50 and a bit for their last five starts. I think that night, if things worked out, he was good enough to win in (1:) 50. He followed that up by winning his (Upper Canada Cup) elimination and final, so it's hard to say. If he's got the right things fall into place for him, and he's got horses to chase, and everything falls into his lap, then…it's hard to say where he's at right now."
Jody Jamieson drove Haul Away in his Upper Canada Cup elim, but opted to steer Twin B Warrior in the final. Tetrick picked up the drive for the final. With both reinsmen being 'in demand' pilots, Menary asked who would be steering Haul Away in the North America Cup elims (Saturday, June 19).
"Tim is very happy with the colt and was very high on him after Saturday night, but he said that he's got other colts right now. Jody's got other horses to choose from, Tim's got other horses to choose from, so we'll have to take it week by week right now."