June 12, 2012 - 3:56 PM
CAMPBELLVILLE, Ont. - Sweet Lou will top the field Saturday at the $1.5-million Pepsi North America Cup on Saturday night.
Sweet Lou, last year's champion two-year-old colt pacer in the U.S., is the prohibitive 3-5 early favourite for the race at Mohawk Racetrack and will break from the No. 4 spot in the 10-horse field.
The race winner will earn $750,000.
Sweet Lou has won all three starts this season, including a track and Canadian-record performance of 1:47.4 in his elimination race as the 2-5 favourite. Warrawee Needy was second, 2 1/4 lengths behind.
Sweet Lou is trained and co-owned by Ron Burke and will be driven by Dave Palone.
The son of 2003 Cup winner Yankee Cruiser won 10-of-12 starts last year.
"It's one of the best fields, I think, assembled for this race in a long time," Burke said. "It’s a great field with great drivers. We are going to have to be on top of our game to pull this off."
Post positions for the race were drawn Tuesday at Mohawk with New York Rangers defenceman Michael Del Zotto serving as guest drawmaster.
The field, with post positions, horse, driver and odds: 1. Bettors Edge, Tim Tetrick, 30-1; 2. Dapper Dude, John Campbell, 8-1; 3. Time To Roll, Andy Miller, 12-1; 4. Sweet Lou, 3-5, Dave Palone; 5. Thinking Out Loud, Randy Waples, 12-1; 6. State Treasurer, Dave Miller, 20-1; 7. A Rocknroll Dance, Yannick Gingras, 10-1; 8. Warrawee Needy, Jody Jamieson, 9-2; 9. Pet Rock, Brian Sears, 15-1; 10. Simply Business, Ron Pierce, 25-1.
Jody Jamieson drove Up The Credit to victory in last year's race as the 2-1 second choice. Well Said, the 2009 winner, holds the stake record of 1:48.1.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012