Even for a champion, winning the North America Cup is a monumental task. On Saturday at Woodbine Mohawk Park, Dan Patch Award winner Louprint will attempt to buck a scary trend and bring victory to the same ownership group that was denied that joy with 2011 divisional leader Sweet Lou. While it is logical to think that just being the best 2-year-old colt pacer would equate to success the following year in sophomore stake races like the North America Cup, the statistics tell a different story. Dating back to 2000, only six horses – Bettor’s Delight, Somebeachsomewhere, Sportswriter, Captaintreacherous, Captain Crunch and Tall Dark Stranger – were voted Dan Patch winners as the best 2-year-old male pacer and then were able to come back the following year to win the first major stakes race for that same crop as 3-year-olds. The “hit” rate is a low 25%, yet there may be hope. Louprint is expected to be the favorite in the C$1,000,000 event. A total of seven 2-year-olds made appearances in the North America Cup the following year as the favorite and four came away with wins. Interestingly one of the heaviest favorites of the group was Sweet Lou at 1-2 back in 2012. He sat fourth through fractions of 25 1/5 and 52 4/5 before being sent to the rim by driver Dave Palone and getting a clear lead in the stretch only to weaken to fourth in the late stages of the 1:47 4/5 mile. “One of the first times I went to Canada for an important stakes race was for that North America Cup night with my dad, who has since passed, and my brother. I thought Sweet Lou raced very well but got involved in a speed duel and just couldn’t last the final eighth of the mile. It reminded me very much of when I went to Indiana for the Knicks/Pacers game and they lost. When you travel for anything, a race or an event, the trip home always seems longer when you lose,” said Larry Karr, who co-owns Louprint with a core group that has owned horses together for well over a decade – Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi and Phillip Collura. “To have it be the same group that owned Sweet Lou, from my perspective the best horse I ever had, does make it even more special. We’ll see if he can get it done when his dad was not able to.” ♦ GET FREE HARNESS EYE PAST PERFORMANCES FOR SATURDAY'S WOODBINE MOHAWK PARK CARD ♦ READ JOHN RALLIS' FULL-CARD ANALYSIS ♦ WATCH IN-DEPTH NORTH AMERICA CUP ANALYSIS WITH DERICK GIWNER & MATT ROSE ♦ VIEW INSIDER SELECTIONS & ANALYSIS FOR ALL NA CUP NIGHT STAKES For Burke, he was starting Louprint in his first baby races at The Meadows a year ago and knew he had something special. “I told everybody when Louprint was training down that he was the best colt we’ve had since Sweet Lou. From the first time he stepped on the track I thought he could be Confederate,” said Burke, pointing to the 2023 Dan Patch Horse of the Year. As luck would have it, Burke said that it was a last minute decision by him and Mark Weaver to bring in Karr and Collura on Louprint just before the colt was born. Perhaps it was fate considering the horse’s lineage and ability. While the ownership is the same and ironically so is the starting post position of the four hole in the North America Cup final, there are many differences between Sweet Lou and Louprint. One was purchased at the Harrisburg Sale yearling sale for $38,000 while Louprint is a homebred. According to Karr, perhaps there is another difference as well. “Thinking back on Sweet Lou, I thought he came into the race having been pretty hard used in some of his races at 2 and leading into the race at 3. I feel like Louprint has been managed very well and raced pretty conservatively despite his record, so I kind of feel like he still has more in his tank.” The man in charge of the training completely agreed with Karr’s assessment. “A lot of it is that I’m a better trainer than I was with Sweet Lou,” said Burke. “You learn as you go. Anybody who doesn’t think they can learn as they go should quit.” Getting back to the difficulty of returning champions winning major stakes, the trend isn’t limited to the North America Cup. Only four Dan Patch winners since 2000 – Tall Dark Stranger, Huntsville, He’s Watching and Captaintreacherous – have gone on to win the Meadowlands Pace, currently the second marquee event on the 3-year-old pacing colt calendar. That win rate checks in at a paltry 16.6%. Some will toss the stats out of the window and argue the case that each Standardbred holds his own fate independent of those that came before. That’s the standpoint of Burke, who clearly isn’t a numbers guy when it comes post positions either. “I don’t give a sh**. It doesn’t matter,” said Burke bluntly when we brought up the poor record of Dan Patch winners in the Cup. “They say things like #6 is the winningest post or #4 is the winningest post in the North America Cup; well Ronnie Wrenn doesn’t race there, so he isn’t going to drive to the standard way of driving there and you can throw those stats out.” Burke is the only person on the Louprint team to have previously won the North America Cup as he was the trainer of 2014 winner JK Endofanera. Still, as a homebred son of the stallion he owned and trained, a victory on Saturday would be extra sweet. “It is our mare; our stud. [Sweet Lou] was the impetus to us doing things differently,” said Burke on the number of homebreds he currently owns and trains. Louprint is far and away the leading money-winner in the field with earnings of $817,071. He enters the North America Cup on a five race winning streak dating back to 2024 and has won each of his four starts this year, including his elimination. He tucked fourth in that mile before brushing to the front before a comfortable half in 55 3/5. On paper he won by just a head in 1:49 1/5 and at the wire he was seemingly under heavy urging, but that is perhaps just a piece of the picture. Driver Ronnie Wrenn, Jr never pulled the colt’s earplugs, typically done to signal the horse that more “go” is needed as he’ll better hear the horses around him. One could also argue that Wrenn wasn’t pushing his charge for a good portion of the late stretch expecting an easily win only to be somewhat surprised by the late charge from Prince Hal Hanover. “I thought he raced good. Ronnie [Wrenn] was like: ‘I had more. I thought the race was put away and didn’t think David [Miller on Prince Hal Hanover] could back out or get his horse going’,” said Burke, remembering his post-race conversation with his driver. “Ronnie has all the confidence in the world in the horse, which is really important.” While Burke agreed that a number of horses could win the 2025 North America Cup, he then uttered words which should make the competition concerned. “We haven’t cranked him yet,” said the Hall of Fame trainer. “He hasn’t had his earplugs out this year. He’s been well taken care of. That is where Ronnie has done a great job. He has never stretched the horse out this year. That is what we talked about. This is a week we may have to stretch.” Along with Louprint, Burke brings Swingtown to the North America Cup for the partnership group of Burke Racing Stables LLC, Hatfield Stables, Knox Services Inc., and R A S Racing. While the Ohio-bred owns an impressive bankroll of $494,834, the son of Downbytheseaside is still searching for a signature win outside of his home state of Ohio. Swingtown made the front just past the quarter in 26 1/5 in his elimination and was able to rate a very soft 57 3/5 middle half but couldn’t fend off the first-over Captain Optimistic while finishing third in a 1:50 2/5 mile. Saturday he’ll have to navigate post seven with Yannick Gingras in the bike and Burke saw enough in the elimination to take a positive view. “I was [disappointed] until I watched the replay. He was actually coming back on when the horse got alongside him. He was probably the only horse that got parked that finished so close. 26 [seconds[ is 26, I don’t care. He is the one that hasn’t been stretched on the mile track so I expect he’ll come back even better,” said Burke. “He’s not good enough to win by just going out and bullying horses around yet. Whereas I think with the other colt [Louprint] maybe you can if you have to do that.” Certain to be on the minds of handicappers is 4-1 second choice Lite Up The World from post five. From the barn of Anthony Beaton, who captured last year’s Cup Final with Nijinsky, Lite Up The World uncorked a powerful 26-second final quarter to come from last to win his elimination in sizzling 1:48 3/5. A son of American Ideal owned by Mac and Carol Nichol, Lite Up The World is one of the more lightly raced colts in the lineup with only eight career starts. From that he’s put up five wins and driver James MacDonald is hoping another one is coming on Saturday. “Anyone that watched him early last year knew that he was a top horse. He was trending in the direction to be Louprint or that kind of horse and it just didn’t work out last year,” said MacDonald at the post draw press conference. “He’s fresh and some of those horses are 10 starts in and maybe some rough trips in. He’s been finishing well every time he’s raced. He’s done it on the front and he’s done it from dead last now. Hopefully Tony [Beaton] will have him in tip-top form Saturday and I can find him a trip.” Captain Optimistic will perhaps be the forgotten elimination winner on the toteboard due to his final time of just 1:50 2/5. Those putting weight on the final time would be wise to consider that the son of 2013 Cup champion Captaintreacherous showed some early speed and overcame a tough uncovered trip to find the wire first over horses with much easier journeys. Trainer Nancy Takter was hardly surprised by the gutsy performance. “I know he’s an honest horse who does what he can,” said Takter, who is a two-time winner of the North America Cup. “I knew he would go forward after his last start as far as conditioning and I expect him to do the same from his elimination start. His name is Captain Optimistic for a reason.” Captain Optimistic starts from post six with five-time Driver of the Year Dexter Dunn in the bike. Trainer Dr. Ian Moore is seeking his first North America Cup win and has a pair of contenders in the field. Prince Hal Hanover, already a 1:49 3/5 winner this season, starts from post nine with David Miller in the bike while Joel And The Jets gets underway from post three with Louis Philippe Roy behind the lines.  Both horses finished second in their eliminations and Moore is hoping for revenge on Saturday. “He’s had limited racing opportunities and some issues along the way, but right now everything seems to be good and I’m hoping he’ll be a lot better than he was last Saturday,” said Moore at the press conference about Joel And The Jets, before touching on the outside post that Prince Hal Hanover will need to overcome. “We kind of expected that [outside draw] with three of the top post positions gone in the race to the [elimination] winners. Hopefully David [Miller] can work out a trip and have something left on the end.” The rest of the field for the North America Cup, race 11 on a 13-race card that starts at 6:35 PM (EDT), includes Fast Choice (Scott Zeron, post one), Dandy Ideal (Jason Bartlett, post two), Crack Shot (Doug McNair, post eight) and Madden Oaks (Braxton Boyd, post 10). Staked undercard of stakes There are five other six-figure races on the Saturday card and plenty of star power signed on to each. Perhaps the marquee battle of the night takes place in the C$390,000 Fan Hanover for 3-year-old pacing fillies (race 10) where fans will witness the first-ever meeting of the undefeated Chantilly (12-for-12) and Dan Patch winner Miki And Minnie. Both fillies were very impressive in their eliminations, with Chantilly brushing and crushing in a 1:50 1/5 mile and Miki And Minnie roaring off cover to win going away in 1:50 2/5. On Saturday, Chantilly starts from post three with James MacDonald in the bike while Miki And Minnie leaves from post five with Dunn again in tow. Certain to gain some of the spotlight is 2024 Dan Patch Horse of the Year Twin B Joe Fresh. The multi-millionaire made her 2025 debut at Harrah’s Philadelphia a winning one in 1:49 3/5 and now ships north for the C$287,000 Roses Are Red (race three), which didn’t require elimination races. In total, there are five stakes finals and a C$100,000 Invitational for older pacers along with plenty of wagering opportunities. A $100,000 Guaranteed Pick 5 starts in races one and seven, plus there will be a mandatory payout of the $421,607 Jackpot Hi-5 in the 13th and final race.