by Dave Briggs
Toronto Maple Leafs winger Matt Martin has completed the draw for Saturday’s $1 million Pepsi North America at Mohawk Racetrack, but the Tuesday afternoon event started with Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) CEO Jim Lawson making two major announcements concerning the Campbellville, ON plant.
Lawson said WEG will make a $10 million investment in Mohawk over the next year to year-and-a-half to winterize the facility, “all with the view of bringing racing to this site year-round” starting as early as 2018.
Lawson further announced a global marketing effort to brand “one brand, two breeds” under the Woodbine name. Thus, Mohawk’s name will change to “Woodbine at Mohawk Park.”
WEG CEO Jim Lawson (Michael Burns photo)
The connections of Pepsi North America Cup elimination winners Downbytheseaside, Huntsville and Fear The Dragon selected the two, three and four positions, respectively. The complete draw for the 34
th edition of the NA Cup is below.
Driver David Miller, who won last year’s NA Cup driving Betting Line to victory, won two eliminations this year driving Brian Brown trainees Downbytheseaside and Fear The Dragon. Miller opted to drive Fear The Dragon in the final. The colt is undefeated in all five of his starts in 2017. Downbytheseaside, who is also undefeated in 2017 (through four starts) will be driven by Brian Sears.
Huntsville, voted the top two-year-old pacing colt in the U.S. in 2016, will be driven by regular pilot Tim Tetrick.
Post time for Saturday’s card has a special early start time of 6:30 p.m. The Pepsi North America Cup is race 12 on a stakes-rich card that also includes: the $253,000 (Cdn) Armbro Flight for older trotting mares (race 3), the $100,000 Mohawk Gold Cup for older pacers (race 5), the $440,000 Fan Hanover for sophomore pacing fillies (race 9), the $251,000 Goodtimes for three-year-old trotting colts (race 10) and the $365,000 Roses Are Red for older pacing mares (race 11).
For more information about the Pepsi North America Cup please visit:
www.northamericacup.com
$1 million Pepsi North America Cup draw
PP Horse Driver Trainer
1 Ocean Colony Yannick Gingras Jimmy Takter
2 Downbytheseaside Brian Sears Brian Brown
3 Huntsville Tim Tetrick Ray Schnittker
4 Fear The Dragon David Miller Brian Brown
5 Sports Column Chris Christoforou Blake Macintosh
6 Classic Pro Trevor Henry Dr. Ian Moore
7 Ozone Blue Chip Brett Miller Ron Coyne Jr
8 Filibuster Hanover TBA Ron Burke
9 Western Hill Doug McNair Tony Alagna
10 Miso Fast TBA Ron Burke
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