Woodbine Mohawk Park: Ageless Bettor's Delight with five North America Cup starters

Not surprisingly, there will be three eliminations slated this Saturday for the North America Cup at Woodbine Mohawk Park. As the first major test for sophomore pacers, the Cup annually brings horses from various states and provinces to meet for the first time.

While the number of entries is strong and suggests a tremendous amount of diversity in the breed, there are bloodlines that are all too familiar that keep showing up some 20 years since they began. The now 26-year-old Bettor's Delight, by age standards a horse likely more apt to be five years into his retirement, has incredibly landed five horses in the eliminations this Saturday, and they are not just add-ons to the list of top-tier colts and geldings, but horses with the talent to find the winner's circle in the C$1 million final on June 15.

While other male lines have grown over time and extended to next generations, the sons of Bettor's Delight have not outperformed him in the stallion barn. Interestingly, as he gets older and further along in his endless stud career, he's sired horses considerably better than his earlier crops. That champions Tall Dark Stranger and Bettor's Wish have emerged in recent years is a testament to his endurance. Bettor's Wish is represented in this year's Cup from his first crop, and that could be a positive sign for an extension of the Bettor's Delight male line. At the same time, there's just one from that sire, not five.

There are those who have suggested an advancement in the breed through second and third generational sires, as we've seen through Mach Three with Somebeachsomewhere and then Captaintreacherous. There's certainly plenty of proof that the extension of the line has produced greatness. This year's Cup has a solid number by Captaintreacherous in the list of top contenders. It's expected that Captaintreacherous would be dominating in major sophomore tests but quite unexpected that Bettor's Delight would be sharing the podium with him, with horses of the capacity to get the job done when the money is on the line.

What's fascinating to me in this year's group is that Bettor's Delights have shown up from virtual anonymity as 2-year-olds to the precipice of stardom this year in the form of Somebeachsomewhere division winner Nijinsky and last year's winless freshman Total Stranger, the full brother to now stallion and 2020 North America Cup winner Tall Dark Stranger. In the case of Nijinsky, trainer Anthony Beaton suggested a more mature horse that had issues putting his entire game together as a freshman in assessing the progress made this year. While Nijinsky was in stakes races and did finish on-the-board as a freshman, he had but one victory in 10 starts, and that was in an overnight event.

Total Stranger had high expectations as well as a freshman and did show up in many stakes engagements north of the border. In many of those events the Nancy Takter-trained colt showed the same kind of speed his older brother had exhibited at a young age, but not the same finishing power, going winless in 11 tries and losing every close photo, basically the opposite of the gutsy Tall Dark Stranger.

In 2024, Nijinsky has flipped the script in a major way for Beaton and company, first upsetting Funtime Bayama in an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold division where he flew home in 25 2/5 to collar the pace-setter in brilliant fashion. A week later it was a convincing wire-to-wire performance (June 1) in the Somebeachsomewhere with 2023 Metro champion Captains Quarters on his back but not gaining an inch during crunch time. With early speed and extreme high speed late, Nijinsky has catapulted to the elite tier of horses in this crop in two short weeks.

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In the States, Total Stranger has gone from a horse that couldn't win a close photo to a horse that has been so far ahead of the competition that a camera wasn't necessary to decide his first two efforts this year. While speed never seemed to be an issue with him as a freshman going with top company, this year he's been the one dictating the terms of the contest and leaving little doubt of the outcome. Back-to-back 1:49 1/5 and 1:49 victories over the five-eighths-mile Harrah's Philadelphia oval in May, won by a combined 15 lengths, got him plenty of notice as he prepared for stakes competition. How the change in venue and the step up in class will test him at Woodbine Mohawk Park this weekend remains to be seen. His victories did not come with 25-and-change final quarters, but it would be difficult to conclude he's not capable of such.

Then there's Mirage Hanover, hardly a sleeper in this group but a horse that had much stakes success early in his 2-year-old campaign yet couldn't complete the season in the same manner. After multiple Ontario Sire Stakes Gold victories, Mirage Hanover didn't fire in his Metro Pace elimination and would make only one more start before calling it a season. This year Mirage Hanover has returned with trainer Jake Leamon prepping him away from the Ontario program strictly at the Meadowlands. The result has been a pair of solid qualifiers and two overnight events. In each race Mirage Hanover came a final quarter in 25-and-change while gaining ground in the stretch. Two years ago Mirage Hanover's older half-brother Mad Max Hanover finished third in the North America Cup elimination behind eventual champion Pebble Beach and then drew post 10 for the final, which sealed his fate.

Trainer Dr. Ian Moore has a knack for coming up with brilliant sophomore pacers each year, and even those that fly under the radar are worth considering. Such would be the case for Storm Shadow, a Bettor's Delight colt that enters the Cup winless in 2024 but in great form nonetheless. Outside draws and tough competition have stood in the way of Storm Shadow finding the winner's circle this year, but his fourth-place finish in a division of the Somebeachsomewhere from post 10 outside race-winner Funtime Bayama can be forgiven. With $375K earned as a freshman, Storm Shadow enters the Cup with a puncher's chance.

How far the fifth son of Bettor's Delight will go in the North America Cup trials remains to be seen as Unrivaled Hanover, a winner just once in 12 career starts, needs to pick up his game a bit to do enough to reach the final.

No matter the outcome this week, the story remains the same for the great Bettor's Delight. While it may be true that much of his long career has benefitted in part from his incredible potency, both in North America and in the Southern Hemisphere of Australia and New Zealand, you marvel at any stallion's ability to remain relevant with current stock, not just broodmare and second or third generational horses.

Will Bettor's Delight be a Kingmaker again in 2024?

I wouldn't bet against it.

NORTH AMERICA CUP ELIMINATION #1 - RACE 3

Post-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Morning Line
1. Janelle Granny - Brett MacDonald - Ron MacDonald - 20-1
2. Special Menu - Andy McCarthy - Brian Brown - 15-1
3. Clever Cody - David Miller - Ian Moore - 6-1
4. Captain Albano - Todd McCarthy - Noel Daley - 9-5
5. Ivy Park - Yannick Gingras - Nancy Takter - 8-1
6. Captains Quarters - Jody Jamieson - Herb Holland - 9-2
7. Remember The Alamo - Tim Tetrick - Tony Alagna - 10-1
8. Gem Quality - Dexter Dunn - Chris Ryder - 7-2

NORTH AMERICA CUP ELIMINATION #2 - RACE 5

Post-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Morning Line
1. Captain Luke - Scott Zeron - Tony Alagna - 6-1
2. Calicojack Hanover - Louis-Philippe Roy - Luc Blais - 15-1
3. Legendary Hanover - James MacDonald - Anthony Beaton - 6-5
4. Mirage Hanover - Tim Tetrick - Jake Leamon - 4-1
5. Number Cruncher - Andy McCarthy - Erv Miller - 8-1
6. Funtime Bayama - Sylvain Filion - Richard Moreau - 7-2
7. Newsroom - Dexter Dunn - Joe Holloway - 10-1
8. Miki Ray - Yannick Gingras - Andrew Harris - 15-1
9. Cupid Shuffle - Doug McNair - Dan Lagace - 20-1

NORTH AMERICA CUP ELIMINATION #3 - RACE 7

Post-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Morning Line
1. Stat That - Lewayne Miller - Susan Miller - 15-1
2. Its Saturday Night - Dexter Dunn - Richard 'Nifty' Norman - 8-1
3. Nijinsky - Louis-Philippe Roy - Anthony Beaton - 9-5
4. Unrivaled Hanover - Jonathan Drury - Shawn Steacy - 10-1
5. Captain Fear Not - Doug McNair - Paul Reid - 15-1
6. Storm Shadow - Bob McClure - Ian Moore - 6-1
7. Better Is Nice - Andy McCarthy - Tony Alagna - 4-1
8. Wallace Hartley - Tyler Borth - Chantal Mitchell - 15-1
9. Total Stranger - Yannick Gingras - Nancy Takter - 7-2