by Karen Briggs, WEG Media

Campbellville, ON — The best mature trotters in the world are converging on Mohawk Racetrack this Saturday (July 18) for a trio of C$50,000 eliminations for the July 25 Maple Leaf Trot and each division promises to pit local favorites against American superstars and overseas champions.

The star-power in the first division alone (race two, post time 7:48 p.m.) is dazzling. Swedish invader Amour Ami, who is co-owned by twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks, will be up against Lucky Jim, who after an unremarkable sophomore season has suddenly blossomed into this continent’s most unbeatable mature trotter. He is undefeated in 14 starts this season and has earned $511,575 (after winning just $47,600 last year) for trainer Julie Miller and owners David and John Prushnok, and William Gregg.

Let’s not forget the presence of last year’s Maple Leaf Trot runner-up, Enough Talk, newly returned from a trip to Sweden’s Elitlopp and coming off a sharp 1:56 qualifying effort at the Meadowlands, and local favorite San Pail, who has been first or second in his last eight starts this season, with closing panels under :28 seconds in every one of those efforts. Add the iron-tough 7-year-old Armbro Chronicle, who was third last year in the Maple Leaf Trot, to the mix and you have an epic showdown in the making.

The second of the three Maple Leaf Trot elims (race three, post time 8:06 p.m.) will feature recent Copenhagen Cup champion Triton Sund, an 8-year-old stallion with nearly $1.2 million in his coffers. He’ll be facing Ben Baillargeon’s Sakic Seelster, who has scored nine times in 18 tries this season and set a new lifetime mark of 1:52.1 in a C$40,000 Preferred race at Mohawk on June 15.

Arch Madness, the 2008 Maple Leaf Trot champion, returns to defend his title this year and has drawn into the third and final elimination (race six, post time 9:10 p.m.). He’ll go head-to-head with Swedish superstar Glen Kronos, a 6-year-old son of Enjoy Lavec who is co-owned by Swedish and Canadian interests and has nearly $1.1 million in earnings to his credit.

Also worthy of respect in this elimination is 4-year-old John Bax pupil Define The World, who recently front-stepped his way to victory in the C$117,000 final of the Masters series at Georgian Downs, after placing first and second in the series’ preliminary legs.

It all adds up to three of the most star-studded fields in harness racing. Only the top three from each contest, plus one of the fourth-place finishers, drawn at random, will advance to the lucrative final on July 25.