This past weekend, David Miller won Pepsi North America Cup eliminations with Downbytheseaside and Fear The Dragon. Trot Insider has been told who Miller will be driving in this Saturday’s $1 million final, and has also been told who will be steering the other mount.
Brian Brown, trainer of both Downbytheseaside and Fear The Dragon, told Trot Insider this morning (Tuesday, June 13) that Miller will drive Fear The Dragon this Saturday in the $1 million NA Cup.
Trot Insider will discuss this and more with Brown after Tuesday's NA Cup post position draw, which will take place today at Mohawk Racetrack in Campbellville, Ont. The draw is bing live streamed by the Woodbine Entertainment Group. For information on the streaming, click here.
The NA Cup, the richest Standardbred race in Canada, will take place this Saturday night (June 17) at the Campbellville oval. A tremendous evening of racing will thrill those in attendance and watching via simulcast. The eliminations for the NA Cup and other top stakes races took place last weekend at Mohawk. To read Trot Insider’s recap of elimination night, which includes analysis, replays and quotes from connections, click here.
Miller was pleased with Fear The Dragon after his 1:50 elimination victory last weekend. "I was real happy with him. He was just cruising along there," Miller said. "I asked him a little bit – he's a bit lazy at times – and I was real happy with him. He was real comfortable."
Miller also discussed Fear The Dragon’s brief break of stride in the homestretch. Miller explained that the colt stepped over a head number that had fallen to the track earlier in the race. Fear The Dragon avoided the head number, quickly regrouped, and went on to score the one and a half-length win.
"If you watch, leaving the gate Yannick's horse (driver Yannick Gingras, aboard Ocean Colony) lost his head number as he was crossing over and I didn't even think of it through the stretch and my horse stepped over it," said Miller.
Brown also told Trot Insider that Brian Sears has picked up the mount on the highly regarded Downbytheseaside, who Miller steered to a 1:50.4 victory in his Cup elim. The win extended Downbytheseaside’s 2017 undefeated streak to four, but Miller stated after the mile that the colt was not at his best in the race.
"I don't think he was at his best tonight for whatever reason, but I've seen him better," Miller said in a post-race interview. "[The wind] could be playing a factor; you're leaving into it and you're finishing into it and it might have something to do with it.
"He was a pretty solid horse last year and got better as the year went on, which is unusual. He came back this year and we can't be happier with him. Just tonight, I wouldn't say he was at his best."