The fields for the Confederation Cup eliminations were drawn Thursday, August 13 at Flamboro Downs during a press conference at the Dundas, Ont. oval
.
Confederation Cup XXXIII will be raced in heats on Flamboro's Sunday, August 16 card of racing. Each Confederation Cup elim will carry a purse of $50,000. The top four finishers from each elim, plus one fifth-place finisher drawn by lot, will return later in the day to contest the $560,000 final.
Four Starzzz Shark gelding River Shark -- owned partially by Brantford, Ont. resident Aaron Waxman -- was supplemented to the elims at the cost of $25,000.
The draw results appear below.
Race 9 - Elim 1
Post - Horse
1 - Bay Of Sharks
2 - If I Can Dream
3 - Shipps Xpectancy
4 - Vertigo Hanover
5 - Nob Hill High
6 - Fast Pay
7 - Primary Purpose
Race 10 - Elim 2
Post - Horse
1 - Stonebridge Master
2 - Chief Of The Beach
3 - Rescue Plan
4 - River Shark
5 - Passmaster Hanover
6 - Lyons Horace
Here are some quotes from the draw press conference, held earlier today at Flamboro.
Casie Coleman, trainer of Primary Purpose
"Post 7 kind of sucks, not happy but I'm used it too (drawing poorly) but I hope he'll overcome it and draw better for the final. Winning with American Ideal was great. I used to be stabled here, it would be awesome to win again.
"Ive known (owner) Rod Therres my whole life, winning this race for him would be awesome."
Mario Baillargeon, driver and co-owner of Bay Of Sharks
"I didn't care about the post position because it's such a short field but it sure will help. His biggest strength is that he never gets tired.
About the $5,000 yearling sale price: "I didn't buy him, a friend did. He was the last colt in the sale."
Co-owner Aaron Waxman on the decision to supplement River Shark
"We talked about it a long time ago because he's not heavily staked. He's good on a half, and that was a big start last week (1:51.3 at Chester). I'm in on him because David Sabatelli (the colt's trainer and owner) wanted a Four Starz Shark colt - he trained that horse - and I said I'd go in with him."
Driver Jody Jamieson on Passmaster Hanover
"He's got high hopes, he shocked people in the Classic but not the connections. He was sick after the NA Cup elims up elims but I think he's coming in in great form. With a short field there won't be too many in front of me."
"I think this year's crop seems balanced, it's a tight three-year-old division which makes it exciting that anyone can win any race."
David Menary, trainer of Fast Pay
"Seems really good, hopefully get a good effort out of him. I think he's best on a half - he races great off a helmet, loves to pass horses. He raced a lot on a half last year. Last year right here he won the Grassroots final by 10 and was one-fifth off the track record.
"Having Paul (MacDonell) I'm sure will help. It's the deeper of the two divisions for sure. I'm not as worries about the draw result from today as I am on Sunday. He's super sharp right now"