Captain Optimistic, Lite Up The World and Louprint came out on top in the trio of C$50,000 Pepsi North America Cup eliminations for 3-year-old male pacers on Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The top three finishers from each trial, plus a fourth-place finisher drawn by lot, advanced to next Saturday night's Grade 1 C$1,000,000 final.
Joel And The Jets (Doug McNair) cut the opening quarter in 26 1/5 in the first elimination and then yielded to sit in the pocket behind Swingtown (Yannick Gingras) after that station. Gingras then mashed on the brakes in the second quarter to get to the half in just 56 seconds as Captain Optimistic (Dexter Dunn) went first-over from fifth, tracked by Bourbon County (Trevor Henry), Captain Hurley (Travis Cullen) and Knockout Round (Scott Zeron).
Swingtown kept control through three-quarters in 1:23 4/5 and began the sprint for home, but Captain Optimistic continued to chip away on the rim and forged his way into the lead. From there, he was able to keep a host of contenders at bay to win in 1:50 2/5. Joel And The Jets found room up the inside to get second, followed by Swingtown and Fast Choice (Jason Bartlett).
"I felt pretty confident going into the race. He's had a really good week," said winning trainer Nancy Takter. "Obviously the tempo was kind of slow up to the half. He was a little pace-compromised and he had to come a far way, so I was really happy with his performance tonight."
A son of Captaintreacherous bred by Fair Winds Farm Inc., Captain Optimistic is trained by Takter for owners 3 Brothers Stables, Marvin Katz and Caviart Farms. He has eight wins, three seconds and a third from 13 tries, has put away C$667,337 and paid $4.30 to win as the favorite.
Lite Up The World took advantage of several battles up front and a hot pace to rally from last to first in a life's-best 1:48 3/5 in the second elimination.
Sterling Choice (Billy Davis Jr.) showed the most speed off the wings, but he was overtaken by Crack Shot (Doug McNair) at the 26 1/5 quarter and then Crack Shot gave way to race in the two-hole behind Sippinonsearoc (Yannick Gingras). Sippionsearoc had been tracked in an early two-wide flow by Fallout (Tim Tetrick) and Madden Oaks (Braxten Boyd), but Madden Oaks swung out three-wide in the backstretch and got by Sippionsearoc prior to the 53 2/5 half, leaving Fallout parked and without cover.
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On the final bend Sippionsearoc made another move to the outside, but Madden Oaks was game and put him away beyond the 1:21 1/5 three-quarters and into the stretch. However, James MacDonald fanned out Lite Up The World, who had been eighth and on excess cover, and behind a 26 second final kicker, Lite Up The World went by all his foes and on to a 2 1/2 length victory. Crack Shot found late room on the inside to get second from Madden Oaks and Fallout hung around for fourth.
"Honestly, I was like 'well, I screwed this up,'" MacDonald said about his thoughts on getting away last. "I was disappointed in myself last week (a second in a Somebeachsomewhere division). I thought I had a great horse and I was trying to do too much and put him in a bad spot and didn't get the job done. Tonight, it was such a competitive elim. I thought there were five, six, seven horses that could win it.
"I was trying to just float and come with cover and hopefully they mixed it up. I floated but they were all leaving and there was nowhere for me to go. I had to take back, and then when Braxten's horse got hot there, he was in trouble and he had to go with him. Then it kind of looked like it might still set up from a bad spot. He's a fast horse, and I knew once he got rolling, he went by one and he just took off. It was a good feeling."
Last year's North America Cup winning trainer Tony Beaton sent out Lite Up The World, an American Ideal colt, for owners Mac and Carol Nichol. He has a summary of 5-2-0 from eight tries, has pocketed C$95,065 and returned $18.30 to win as an 8-1 offering.
Louprint (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) didn't disappoint as the 1-2 favorite in the last elimination, prevailing in 1:49 1/5.
Prince Hal Hanover (David Miller) chopped out the quarter in 27 seconds but Wrenn Jr. came to call out of fourth in the second quarter with Louprint and worked his way around Prince Hal Hanover before the 55 3/5 half. Past that marker there was a jam-up behind the leaders that the judges eventually deemed was caused by Making History (Brett Beckwith) that ended up with TH Kay C Crunch (Jody Jamieson) and Courts On Fire (McNair) breaking and also bothered Pants On Fire (Dunn).
Meanwhile, Louprint rolled through three-quarters while keeping a first-over Dandy Ideal (Bartlett) at bay and he continued to fend off that foe in the lane. However, Prince Hal Hanover emerged off the inside in the lane and was a big threat to Louprint as he closed quickly. Louprint got to the wire first, though, as he kept a head in front of Prince Hal Hanover with the earplugs still in. Dandy Ideal ended up a game third and Pants On Fire overcame the interference to collect fourth.
"It was closer than I wanted it to be, but he had the earplugs in and he was really strong finishing, so I was happy with him tonight," relayed Wrenn Jr. "I was just kind of letting things settle, and I didn't know what Dave wanted to do. It looked like he was happy to take the two-hole trip behind me, and I gave it a shot."
A Sweet Lou colt, Louprint was bred by Burke Racing Stable LLC., Weaver Bruscemi LLC. and Phil Collura and they share ownership of him with Larry Karr. Louprint made his 11th stop in the winner's circle from 14 outings, has banked C$1,121,440 and paid $3.00 to win.
Post positions for the Pepsi North America Cup final will be drawn on Monday. Elimination winners will draw for a post between two and six. In the draw for the last spot in the final among the three fourth-place finishers, a press release from Woodbine Mohawk Park indicates that Fast Choice got it over Fallout and Pants On Fire.