Many North America Cup-bound three-year-olds pick Mohawk Racetrack's Burlington Stakes as a perfect prep for the Cup eliminations. Even though divisions of the Burlington will not be contested until June 12, the connections of some solid Cup hopefuls have entered their charges to contest a
conditioned event this Saturday at the Campbellville track.
Seemingly very sharp off a victorious 1:50.2 qualifying mile last Friday at the Meadowlands Racetrack, trainer George Teague, Jr.'s Delmarvalous has drawn Post 4 in an eight-horse conditioned event which has been carded as Race 4 (8:33 p.m.). After cutting some speedy middle fractions in his only pari-mutuel start this year (Pocono Downs, May 8), the Badlands Hanover colt finished fourth with a 1:52.3 mile.
After having compiled a two-year-old campaign in which he won eight of his 11 races and missed the board just once, Delmarvalous was installed as the 18-1 sixth choice in Trot Magazine's 2010 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book.
Delmarvalous will be racing out of the barn of trainer Brenda Teague on Saturday, and Teague has listed Jody Jamieson to perform the driving duties.
Jamieson is also listed on a pair of other horses in the dash, the first being the four-year-old Art Major gelding Rave On, who has drawn Post 1 for trainer Tony O'Sullivan.
The other horse the O'Brien Award-winning driver has been listed on is the Cup-eligible Art Major colt Kyle Major (40-1 in Spring Book). After competitive showings in the elimination and final of the Berry's Creek at the Meadowlands, the Shawn Robinson pupil was scratched 'sick' out of the Bud Light Stakes at Flamboro Downs. He returned last Saturday night at Mohawk in what was the 2010 pari-mutuel debut of Sportswriter. Although he paced his mile in 1:51.2, Kyle Major finished out of the money in sixth.
After having won the final of the Diplomat Pacing Series and his division of the Bud Light Stakes, the Ben Baillargeon-trained and Mario Baillargeon-driven Mcaracas (85-1 in Spring Book) will be looking for his third straight victory. The McArdle colt has won four of his five races this year and seven of 14 overall. Mcaracas has drawn the outside Post 8 for Saturday's dash.
Two more Cup-eligible colts will be contesting the dash, as trainer John Kopas' Astreos bay Keystone Raptor (45-1 in Spring Book) will be starting from Post 2 with driver Jack Moiseyev, and the Kris Di Cenzo-trained Youthful Pacing Series winner Willies Place (65-1 in Spring Book) will start from Post 6 with driver Luc Ouellette.
To view the entries for Saturday's card from Mohawk, click here.
First-race post time is 7:30 p.m.