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Red River Hanover alone at the finish of the 2002 North America Cup, winning by 2 lengths.

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Updated: 6/18/03

RESULTS HERE

The North America Cup at Woodbine, one of the most important races on the continent for three year old pacers, will be run Saturday night June 22nd. Sponsored by Pepsi and with a purse of $1,542,500 (Canadian) it is the richest harness race in Canada. It is also the first leg of the Grand Slam of Pacing. A horse that sweeps the four race series, which includes the North America Cup (Woodbine), Meadowlands Pace (Meadowlands), Little Brown Jug (Delaware County Fair) and the Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Colt Pace (Meadowlands), wins a $1 million bonus.

Unlike in thoroughbred racing, almost all harness races are run at a mile and entry into the finals of major stakes races involves eliminations the week before. For the North America Cup, four elimination races were run on Saturday, June 14th.

Honorary drawmaster retired hockey coach and Hockey Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman and top local driver Chris Christoforou who will handle favorite Allamerican Native.

The top two finishers in each race plus two third-place finishers drawn at random earn berths in the final. These were won by Allamerican Native, Totally Western, Yankee Cruiser, and Allamerican Theory, the latter posting the fastest winning time, 1:49 3/5.

First run in 1984, the race has featured a who's who of pacing history, with such winners as Jate Lobell, Precious Bunny, Presidential Ball, Cam's Card Shark and Gothic Dream. The late Cam Fella won the race in 1982 (when it was still called the Queen City Pace), and went on to sire four North America Cup winners: Goalie Jeff, Precious Bunny, Presidential Ball and Cam's Card Shark. 1987 winner Jate Lobell went on to sire three winners of his own: Safely Kept, David's Pass, and Gothic Dream. In 2000, the bay gelding Gallo Blue Chip used his win as a stepping stone to divisional honors in Canada and Horse of the Year distinction in the United States. Last year's winner Red River Hanover defeated his favored stablemate Mach Three by two lengths in a track record time of 1:48 4/5 with driver Luc Ouellette at the reins.

Favorite Allamerican Native at the Breeders' Crown last year.

The deserving favorite is Allamerican Native, winner of his last six starts including a 2 1/2 length victory in his North America Cup Eliminations. He was named the 2002 champion pacing colt in the United States last year and will have a rematch with Totally Western who defeated him in the Breeders' Crown last year at Woodbine. His driver Chris Christoforou said: "He's a strong horse. I think he's just coming into the race perfect. He's got two starts - two very confidence-building starts, where he hit the wire both times with the bit firmly in his mouth. And tugging hard on me this (past) week (in the elim). I'm expecting a big race out of him. We're going to hope for the best." Trainer Sal Capone said: "He's much more relaxed this year. He's such a highly-intelligent horse to begin with, but he has more savvy now. This will be his first test. Everything has progressed the way you would like it when he's been behind the gate so far. His two qualifiers, he drew the easiest division in the (New Jersey) Sires Stakes (on June 7), then the easiest (Cup) elimination). Things are heading in our direction."

The race is the sixth on Saturday and goes to post at 9:42pm ET. It will be shown on The Score in Canada or you can watch it online at the Woodbine website. Here are the entries for the 2003 Pepsi North America Cup:

The North America Cup Trophy

More North America Cup info:

• Woodbine News and Notes - mostly North America Cup stuff now
• North America Cup official Site
• North America Cup past winners
  • 2002 - Red River Hanover
  • 2001 - Bettors Delight
• North America Cup fact sheet - stats and trivia about past runnings
• Live audio/video from Woodbine
• Woodbine main page
• SLAM! Horse Racing - Canadian horse racing news
• WayMoreSports.com Horse Racing - more Canadian racing news
• TSN Horse Racing - more Canadian racing news
• News Index Search - articles from the various online news sources

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