The post position draw for the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup took place today at Mohawk Racetrack. Ten of the top three-year-old male pacers in training are now set to take their best shot at the lucrative purse this Saturday (June 20) at the pristine Campbellville, Ont. raceway.
The field of 10 advanced to Saturday’s ‘ NA Cup’ final via their performances in last weekend’s elimination races. The top three finishers from each elimination and one fourth-place finisher gained entrance to the final. For comprehensive coverage of the elims, including race replays, charts, post-race reactions, analysis and more, click here).
The Pepsi North America Cup is the centerpiece of Mohawk’s fantastic Saturday card of racing that will also feature the $479,000 final of the Fan Hanover Stakes (which will showcase three-year-old pacing fillies), the $350,000 final of the Roses Are Red (pacing mares), the $272,000 final of the Armbro Flight (trotting mares), the $233,000 final of the Goodtimes Stakes (three-year-old trotting colts), the $100,000 Mohawk Gold Cup (invitational pacers) and the $75,000 North America Cup consolation.
TSN1 will televise the Cup final on Saturday. The race will also be featured on Sirius XM satellite radio during an edition of the ‘Saturday Night at the Races’ series. First-race post time for Mohawk’s Saturday card of racing is 6:30 p.m. The NA Cup has been slotted as Race 12 on the 15-dash card and has an approximate post time of 10:40 p.m.
The connections of the NA Cup elimination winners (In The Arsenal, Wakizashi Hanover, Wiggle It Jiggleit) earned the right to select their horse’s post positions for the final. Peter Holland, currently a centre for the Toronto Maple Leafs, served as the special guest drawmaster.
The connections of Wiggle It Jiggleit won the draw to pick first and chose Post 3. The connections of In The Arsenal then picked second and selected Post 5. The connections of Wakizashi Hanover picked third and opted for Post 2.
The open draw then followed the winners' draw. The post positions for the Pepsi North America Cup appear below.
$1 MILLION PEPSI NORTH AMERICA CUP
(Post – Horse – Driver – Morning Line)
1 – Good Friday Three – Brett Miller – 20-1
2 – Wakizashi Hanover – Tim Tetrick – 5-2
3 – Wiggle It Jiggleit – Montrell Teague – 8-5
4 – Betting Exchange – David Miller – 15-1
5 – In The Arsenal – Brian Sears – 7-2
6 – Yankee Bounty – Corey Callahan – 20-1
7 – Arque Hanover – 25-1
8 – Hurrikane Ali – Yannick Gingras – 24-1
9 – Penji Hanover – Chris Christoforou – 20-1
10 – Artspeak – Scott Zeron – 5-1
AE – Split The House – Randy Waples
Wiggle It Jiggleit (PP3, Montrell Teague, 8-5), who will make his second start on Canadian soil on Saturday, has been named the 8-5 morning line favourite for the final. Trained by Clyde Francis for George Teague Jr. Inc., Wiggle It Jiggleit has yet to taste defeat in his 11-race career. Ten of his wins have come this year, and four of those victories were sub-1:50 miles. The gelding’s connections opted to skip the Somebeachsomewhere Stakes earlier this month in order to directly head into last weekend’s eliminations. The move proved to pay off in full, as Wiggle It Jiggleit went right to the top from Post 5 and ultimately won well in hand. The field allowed Teague to rate a pedestrian :30.1 second quarter in the dash, and things were all over from that point forward. Wiggle It Jiggleit cruised home with a solid back half and hit the wire in 1:49.2, six lengths ahead of Arque Hanover (who was driven by Tim Tetrick). Yankee Bounty (Corey Callahan) finished third. The fourth-place finisher in the elim, Hurrikane Ali (Yannick Gingras), drew into Saturday’s final.
Fellow elimination winner Wakizashi Hanover (PP2, Tim Tetrick, 5-2) continued his strong sophomore campaign with a 1:49.2 closing victory last weekend. The son of Dragon Again has been pegged as the 5-2 second choice in the early odds for the Cup final. The brown gelding was solid last year as a freshman, but has really stepped up at this point in the season. He wasn’t favoured in his elim, but when he was asked for pace at the head of the lane, the career winner of $198,257 sped home and defeated Artspeak (Scott Zeron) and Betting Exchange (David Miller). Wakizashi Hanover is owned by the Tri County Stable of Truro, Nova Scotia and is trained by Joann Looney King.
The Kelvin Harrison-trained In The Arsenal (PP5, Brian Sears, 7-2) continued to roll in his elimination last weekend with a sharp first-over win in 1:49.4 for driver Chris Christoforou. The American Ideal colt is unbeaten in his four starts this year, which includes a victory in the Art Rooney Memorial Pace at Yonkers Raceway. The bay has been gauged as the 7-2 third morning line choice and will look to add to his $606,843 bankroll.
Earlier this year, Trot Magazine assembled its annual Pepsi North America Spring Book and pegged Artspeak as its 3-1 choice. After having finished second in his Cup elimination, Artspeak fell victim to the post position gods and drew the demanding Post 10.
Prior to the eliminations, some of Ontario’s best-known horsemen offered their thoughts on who could possibly win the Cup. To hear what the horsemen had to say, click here.
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.