Captaintreacherous Headlines Star Sophomores in North America Cup

Tuesday afternoon at Mohawk Racetrack was flooded with owners, trainers, drivers and media, as the track was conducting the post position draw for Saturday night’s $1-million North America Cup final. The three elimination winners, Captaintreacherous, Fool Me Once and Vegas Vacation, got to pick their posts and a random fourth place finisher will be drawn by lot.

Below is the field.

PP-Horse Name-Driver-Trainer-Morning Line

1-Apprentice Hanover-Jody Jamieson-Ben Wallace-20-1

2-Vegas Vacation-Scott Zeron-Casie Coleman-5/2

3-Fool Me Once-Sylvain Filion-Mark Austin-4-1

4-Captaintreacherous-Tim Tetrick-Tony Alagna-2-1

5-Twilight Bonfire-David Miller-Dan Collins-30-1

6-Wake Up Peter-Ron Pierce-Tony Alagna-8-1

7-Sunshine Beach-Chris Chrisoforou-Mark Steacy-15-1

8-Odds On Equuleus-John Campbell-Robin Schadt-8-1

9-Captive Audience-Randall Waples-Collin Johnson-8-1

10-Martini Hanover-Dave Palone-Chris Ryder-25-1

Looking at the names participating in this year’s renewal of the North America Cup, it shows that this year’s sophomore crop is arguably the best in the last few years. This year’s group of eliminations also displayed the talent of these three-year-olds, as every elimination was clocked in 1:49 or faster, the first time in the history of the Cup. 

Captaintreacherous with the slight advantage over
Odds On Equuleus in the 2012 Metro Pace
(New Image Photo)

The 30^th edition of the North America Cup looks to be setting up similar to another signature race at Mohawk, the 2012 Metro Pace. Few may remember what occurred in that $1-million classic, so ahead is a brief summary. A fast pace was set up front because of a battle between Johny Rock and Vegas Vacation. Captaintreacherous ended up third over around the far turn and at three-quarters, which was paced in :28.3. Captaintreacherous fanned off his cover and took the lead from the briefly second-over Apprentice Hanover entering the eighth pole. Fourth over in the flow was Odds On Equuleus, who began chasing down Captaintreacherous approaching the wire. Captaintreacherous dug in and won the Metro in 1:49.2, pacing the final quarter in :27.1.

Some names from the freshman equivalent of the North America Cup have not appeared in this year’s final. Yet, it’s uncanny how the race sets up similarly to the Metro. The likely speed-demons of the Cup look to be Fool Me Once and Apprentice Hanover.

After two failed attempts to race off the pace, trainer Ben Wallace changed tactics with Apprentice Hanover and decided he wanted his colt to race from the front. He proved his speed in his elimination, battling for the lead through a quarter in :26.2 and a half in :54.1 (:27.4).

Fool Me Once under a firm grip by Sylvain Filion
winning his elimination in 1:48.1
(New Image Photo)

Fool Me Once was a monster on the front last week. Sylvain said he did not want the lead in a post-race interview, but Fool Me Once blazed through fractions of :26.2, :54.1 (:27.4) and 1:21.2 (:27.1) to kick home in :26.4, pacing the mile in 1:48.1. Since Fool Me Once was trapped in a pocket two weeks ago in the Somebeachsomewhere, expect Filion to be aggressive on the lead.

To top off the speed in this race, there are horses that like to brush to the lead later in the race. Both Vegas Vacation and Captaintreacherous race like that. Vegas will likely be put into a spot, where he can either pick up cover or make his pursuit to the lead after or at the half. Right behind him will likely be Captaintreacherous, since he starts from a more outside post. Vegas Vacation will make his move to a half timed near :53 and change, with the quarter going in the :26 range.

Captaintreacherous "flying" down the stretch to win
his North America Cup elim in 1:48.4
(New Image Photo)

We have not seen the power that Captaintreacherous holds. He greatly resembles the likes of his sire, Somebeachsomewhere, in the ease he shows making big moves. He’s shown the power he is capable of in many of the big dances, such as the Woodrow Wilson and Metro. Although he may not be the value we are looking for on the win ticket, he is an almost certain winner of the Cup, the full-certainty is not on him, as it is horse racing. The value will be within the exotics.

The closers in this field, consisting of Wake Up Peter, Captive Audience and Odds On Equuleus, will highlight the underneath-section of our exotics. For second, we’ll take Captaintreacherous’s main rival at two, Odds On Equuleus. He tried to race on the lead in the Somebeachsomewhere, which he was not capable of doing. Campbell then guided Odds On Equuleus to the back of the pack and closed to finish second to Vegas Vacation in his Cup elimination.

Also to be included in the exacta is Wake Up Peter. He competed against Fool Me Once, who paced the fastest of the three eliminations, going in 1:48.1. Wake Up Peter showed a tremendous amount of pace once he shook loose in the stretch, finishing second by 2 lengths with a :26.1 final quarter. He got lucky though, as the rail opened up for him. He cannot pace that kind of trip this week and likely won’t, as Pierce will be more aggressive with him.