North America Cup Elims Complete

The eliminations for next weeks $1.5M North America Cup are in the books. It was a very good night of racing, with plenty of excitement. Often times the eliminations are pre-determined, however this year they were anything but.

For a full recap, and replays, you can visit SC here.

In elim one, the expected tilt did occur, but added to the mix was Sportswriter who raced well for the first time in quite awhile. He was a very game third from a first up adventure. Rock n Roll Heaven got the best trip of the three and got the win, Kyle Major came second (but I thought he was washed out and did not look good at all). One might expect the winner to come from this division and I don't blame anyone for thinking so, but standing at the wire one thing was apparent - these were three totally cooked horses. Their respective trainers have a week to get them ready, but I can't help but think this is not the way to go into a big final.

In the second elim, Ron Pierce took a huge risk with the favourite, All Speed Hanover, but it paid off. He exploded late, and was fresh as a daisy at the wire. He absolutely flew the last eighth. I had a chance to watch him warm up and I must say I was really impressed. He is a monster and looks oh so sound. Fred and Ginger raced awesome from the back and looked very good. He came his last eighth, wide, in 12.3 - absolutely smoking. Those two colts with good posts and trips will be hard to keep off the ticket. They both are coming into the final in really good shape I think.

In the last elim, One More Laugh was the heavy chalk and failed to deliver to a nice little colt - We Will See. The race went in a sparkling 149 flat.

This is going to be a great betting final I feel. The Post draw for non-winners will be huge, because some very good colts did not win tonight.

Mohawk was, Mohawk. If there is a nicer place to watch a harness race outside in the summer I have not found it. The people were out in full force - in fact when I walked in I could not get a program because they were sold out. The beer lines were solid, and for those who think things are too overpriced, a pint of beer was $5, tax included. Not bad at all.

All in all a great night of racing. I have a feeling they are going to have a huge crowd next week for the final.