by Karen Briggs, WEG Media

Campbellville, ON — There are still close to 100 colts eligible to start in the upcoming C$1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup, but the C$73,500 final of the Diplomat Pacing Series, this Saturday (May 9) at Mohawk, should start to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

The paired entry of Jeff Gillis’ Artists Rally and My Gift To You are not being pointed towards the NA Cup, but they’re currently the 2-1 morning line favorites in this impressive field of 10 3-year-olds.

My Gift To You, a son of Camluck, scored a win in the opening round of this series at Woodbine on April 25, but ran into traffic problems from an outside post position in the May 2 sequel, finishing third.

The handsome black Artists Rally, who is by Real Artist, was fifth in the Diplomat’s first leg but bounced back to win the following week. He also earns respect for having swept the Hopeful Series at Yonkers Raceway in March.

The other paired entry in the Diplomat final belongs to trainer Carl Jamieson, and both colts are being aimed for the North America Cup.

Chief Of The Beach, by Real Desire, and World Away, by Western Terror, are both lightly raced thanks to injuries last year, but have shown flashes of brilliance worthy of their hefty price tags at the yearling sales. Chief Of The Beach has so far scored a fourth and a second in this series, while World Away was second in the Diplomat opener, then stole his division of the second leg by a nose over Fire On The Water.

“Last week we raced them both off the front,” says Jamieson. “We’re hoping not to do that on Saturday. World Away unfortunately drew the 10 hole, which isn’t going to help him, but Chief Of The Beach will leave from (post position) five, so we’ll see what happens. They’re both nice colts but pretty green still.”

With four other NA Cup hopefuls in this field — Stinger Blue Chip, Fire On The Water, Bay Of Sharks, and Primary Purpose — this should be an exciting preview of things to come.

Catch the final of the Diplomat Pacing Series on Saturday night at Mohawk. It’s race six, post time 9:15 p.m.