While freshman pacing colts and fillies should have the bulk of the attention on Saturday night at Mohawk with divisions of the Eternal Camnation and Nassagaweya on tap, the older horses entered in the Preferred Pace and Trot also provide star power of their own.
Two-year-old pacing fillies kick off the stakes action on Saturday night with three divisions of the Eternal Camnation. Headlining the first division in Race 2 is the undefeated Happy Becky (PP2). David Miller is down to drive the Cams Card Shark - Happy Doris filly that he co-owns along with trainer Casie Coleman's West Wins Stable of Cambridge, Ont., Robert Darrow and Ron Broadstone of Ohio.
The second division, Race 3, features another unbeaten filly in national season's leader JK Shesalady. The full sister to 2014 Pepsi North America Cup champion JK Endofanera, JK Shesalady (PP7) is owned by her breeders, 3 Brothers Stable of New York. Nancy Johansson handles the training and Yannick Gingras is down to drive this three-time winner with a 1:52 speed badge.
Easily the most wide-open of the three Eternal Camnation divisions is the third and final split in Race 5. None of the nine fillies entered have more than one win on the year. While winless, Ideal Nuggets hasn't missed the board in all four of her stateside startsfor trainer Ed Lohmeyer and owners Robert & Lauren Tucker of Glen Gardner, N.J. John Campbell will drive the Western Ideal filly, leaving from Post 4.
The next race switches over to the colts in one of three Nassagaweya divisions. In the first division, the matchup appears to revolve around colts side-by-side on the starting gate with ownership interests from the same city. In Post 3 is Dream Maker champ The Wayfaring Man for driver Jack Moiseyev, trainer Nicky Comegna and owner Bruno Comegna of Burlington. To his outside is Asap Hanover, trained by Linda Toscano for Burlington's John Mehlenbacher. Tim Tetrick is listed.
Battle of Waterloo champ Go Daddy Go returns on Saturday and headlines the second Nassagaweya group in Race 9. John Campbell will once again guide the son of Ponder for owner-trainer Bob McIntosh, who co-owns with Dave Boyle. Go Daddy Go has Post 7 in one of the two nine-horse Nassagaweya fields. The son of Ponder hasn't missed the board in five starts.
Also saddled with an outer starting spot but likely to receive much pari-mutuel support is Artspeak in the third Nassagaweya split (Race 11). The New Jersey Sire Stakes champ is three-for-three on the year for trainer Tony Alagna and owners Brittany Farms of Versailles, Ky., Marvin Katz of Toronto, Ont., Joe Sbrocco of Brecksville, Oh. and In The Gym Partners of Staten Island, N.Y. The son of Western Ideal won his most recent start in 1:50.4 at The Meadowlands, and starts on Saturday from Post 8 for driver Scott Zeron.
Interspersed among the stakes races are two $34,000 Preferreds -- a pace in Race 8 and a trot in Race 10.
The pacing group features two of the top three-year-olds from 2013: U.S. Pacer of the Year Captaintreacherous (PP5) and O'Brien Award finalist Sunshine Beach (PP6). These two locked horns on many occasions last season, with the most notable coming in the Battle of the Brandywine at Mohegan Sun Pocono almost one year to the day. It was August 17, 2013 that Sunshine Beach bested 'The Captain' in a world record 1:47.4 performance that was one of the year's best races.
Many of these pacers will be making what could be the first of three straight weeks of starts over the Campbellville oval. Next weekend, Mohawk will card eliminations (if necessary) for the 2014 Canadian Pacing Derby, Metro Pace and She's A Great Lady, with finals following on August 30.
On the trotting side, half of the horses competing are O'Brien Award winners. After struggling to find his form, Daylon Magician (PP1) showed his class last week with a national season's best mile in 1:52.1. His mettle will be tested by a solid group of seven other older trotters that includes Flanagan Memory (2013 O'Brien Award winner, PP3), Mister Herbie (2012 & 2013 O'Brien Award winner, PP4) and Wheeling N Dealin (2012 O'Brien Award winner, PP6).
To view the full list of entries for Saturday night's card, click one of the following links: Saturday Entries - Mohawk Racetrack -- Saturday Program Pages - Mohawk Racetrack.