The stage is now set for the 2015 Pepsi North America Cup eliminations, as the connections of 24 three-year-old pacing colts and geldings have entered their charges to face the gate this Saturday (June 13) at Mohawk Racetrack.
The Mohawk race office has carded three eight-horse eliminations, each of which will carry a purse of $50,000. The eliminations have been carded as Race 2 (estimated post time 7:45 p.m.), Race 6 (9:05 p.m.) and Race 8 (9:45 p.m.). The 13-dash program will kick off with a first-race post time of 7:25 p.m.
The top three finishers from each elimination will advance to the $1 million ‘Cup’ final, which will be contested on Saturday, June 20 during a stakes and promotion-packed evening at the sublime Campbellville, Ont. raceway. The connections of the eliminations winners will be able to select their horses' starting spots for the final. Horses tied for the last eligible starting position (or positions) for the Cup final event will be drawn by lot to constitute a 10-horse field.
Wiggle It Jiggleit, who will start from post position five and will be driven by Montrell Teague, will make his first start on Canadian soil in the first of the Cup eliminations. Trained by Clyde Francis for George Teague Jr. Inc., Wiggle It Jiggleit has yet to taste defeat in his 10-race career, nine of which have taken place this year. The gelding’s connections opted to skip the Somebeachsomewhere Stakes in order to directly head into Saturday’s eliminations. Three of Wiggle It Jiggleit’s wins this year have come in sub-1:50 fashion. The Mr Wiggles bay will face off against Maxdaddy Blue Chip (PP1, D. Miller), Hurrikane Ali (PP4, Y. Gingras), Drachan Hanover (PP7, R. Zeron) and others in his elim.
American Ideal colt In The Arsenal (PP7, B. Sears) will look to extend his seasonal unbeaten streak to four in the second elimination. The bay is heading into Saturday’s test off of his 1:51.2 victory in the $300,000 Art Rooney Pace on May 30 at Yonkers Raceway. Trainer Kelvin Harrison has found a boatload of success with the $7,500 yearling purchase so far, as the colt has won nine of his 14 career starts and has banked more than $581,000 in purse earnings to this point. The second elimination will also feature the Bob McIntosh-trained Go Daddy Go (PP1, J. Campbell), who won his Ontario Sires Stakes debut in late May and just missed in the Somebeachsomewhere Stakes after having started from Post 10. McIntosh said last week that the chestnut son of Ponder has sharpened up since his earlier qualifying races this year. Fresh off of his win last weekend in the Somebeachsomewhere Stakes, Dudes The Man (PP8, C. Callahan) will have to overcome the outside starting spot for trainer Howard Okusko Jr. On Saturday, the American Ideal colt will be looking to notch his third win of the season in what will be his fourth 2015 start.
Artspeak (PP7, S. Zeron), who has thoroughly impressed in his two starts this season, will be looking to extend his 2015 unbeaten streak to three in the last of the Cup eliminations. The Dan Patch and O’Brien Award winner has been razor sharp thus far in his three-year-old campaign, as the Western Ideal colt has won in both 1:49 and 1:48.4, the latter of which came on May 30 during a $100,000 final of the New Jersey Sire Stakes at the Meadowlands Racetrack. Trainer Tony Alagna is looking to show all of the naysayers that cutting Artspeak’s two-year-old season short last fall was the right thing to do for a successful three-year-old campaign. The talented colt is heading into Saturday’s eliminations with wins in 10 of his 12 races and more than $865,000 in earnings on his card. Artspeak is scheduled to lock horns with Traceur Hanover (PP6, R. Waples), who won the group’s Breeders Crown division last fall at the Meadowlands. The Western Ideal colt prepped for the Cup with one qualifier and a start in the Somebeachsomewhere, where he finished fourth and was individually clocked in 1:51.2. Cams Card Shark colt Pierce Hanover (PP8, J. Jamieson) will have to overcome the outside starting spot in order to gain entrance to the final. The Ken Sucee-trained bay was scratched out of last weekend’s Somebeachsomewhere festivities due to what was characterized as a minor throat infection.
Trot Magazine assembled its annual Pepsi North America Spring Book earlier this year and pegged Artspeak as its 3-1 choice. A total of 72 colts and geldings had been nominated to the NA Cup back in February and the connections of 47 of those horses made the final sustaining payment in late May. After this past weekend’s card of racing, Trot Insider compiled a list that tracked how the eligibles have raced leading up to the eliminations. To view the list, click here.
It has been announced that TSN1 will televise the Cup final on June 20 and that the marquee race will also be featured on Sirius XM satellite radio during an edition of the ‘Saturday Night at the Races’ series.
To view the harness racing entries for Saturday at Mohawk, click the following link: Saturday Entries – Mohawk Racetrack.
To access a free program for Mohawk’s Saturday card, courtesy of TrackIT, click here.
The fields for the Pepsi North America Cup eliminations appear below.
NA Cup Elimination 1
Race 2, Purse – $50,000
(Post – Horse – Listed Driver)
1 – Maxdaddy Blue Chip – D. Miller
2 – Trading Up – D. McNair
3 – Arque Hanover – T. Tetrick
4 – Hurrikane Ali – Y. Gingras
5 – Wiggle It Jiggleit – M. Teague
6 – Yankee Bounty – Y. Gingras
7 – Drachan Hanover – R. Zeron
8 – Physicallyinclined – P. MacDonell
NA Cup Elimination 2
Race 6, Purse – $50,000
(Post – Horse – Listed Driver)
1 – Go Daddy Go – J. Campbell
2 – Penji Hanover – C. Christoforou
3 – Good Friday Three – C. Christoforou
4 – Allbeef N Nobull – D. Miller
5 – The Wayfaring Man – J. Moiseyev
6 – Revenge Shark – S. Zeron
7 – In The Arsenal – B. Sears
8 – Dudes The Man – C. Callahan
NA Cup Elimination 3
Race 8, Purse – $50,000
(Post – Horse – Listed Driver)
1 – Wakizashi Hanover – T. Tetrick
2 – Betting Exchange – D. Miller
3 – Sicily – Y. Gingras
4 – Rock N Roll World – S. Filion
5 – Split The House – R. Waples
6 – Traceur Hanover – R. Waples
7 – Artspeak – S. Zeron
8 – Pierce Hanover – J. Jamieson