by Bob Heyden

Here’s a thumbnail look at the first 10 editions of the North America Cup, also known as the “Greenwood Years.”

1984: The Queen City Pace ends a 20-year run. Greenwood, around since 1874, is about to close out its last decade in style. Legal Notice and Dr. John Hayes score in the $596,500 test for the best sophomores in the land. Sonny Dancer sat second to the winner pretty much every step with Walton Hanover and narrowed in late but fell a couple of bucks short. 3YOPC On The Road Again was not present in the inaugural.

1985: Dave Wall and Staff Director follow the 1984 blueprint and lead every step. Pepsi climbs aboard as a sponsor. Red Colt was a good second. Some ‘brand’ names failed to seriously threaten: Forrest Skipper (1986 HOY), Chairmanoftheboard, Anxious Robby, and Pinocchio.

1986: Trevor Ritchie follows John Campbell and Amity Chef and just does get the measure of that Blair Burgess trainee scoring with Quite A Sensation. This is the first June NA Cup. Campbell would have to wait until 1991 for his Cup breakthrough. It was a healthy $63.50-win mutuel a year before the million dollar era began.

1987: Fittingly, Jate Lobell, 21-for-22 lifetime coming in, held on a nose over Frugal Gourmet in the first seven-figure race ever contested in Canada, harness or thoroughbred. It was the 26th overall million-dollar race in the industry and it cost a robust $16,000 — payments of $1G, $2G, $2G, $3G, and $8G to start — to get your nose on the starting gate. Jate Lobell actually broke the track record with a 1:54.1 elimination score, and then again by nearly 2 seconds with his 1:52.3 win for Mark O’Mara, who was the first U.S.-born driver to win it. The win price was $2.70 and it was 30-1 on the runner-up. The second feature was named the Kick Off Pace with a $75,000 purse. Quietly a veteran named Perfect Out appeared in there. He didn’t win, but did become the first and only horse to beat Cam Fella and later race on a card with Jate Lobell.

1988: Yves Filion and Runnymede Lobell rewarded those who backed the Bayama Farms’ colt to 4-5 ($3.70) as he won the richest of the first 17 editions ($1,043,500). Second choice Camtastic (8-5), the defending Pacer of the Year, never got underway and was last in the eight-horse field, but just 2¾ lengths back in the tightly packed group. Exclusive Cam (125-1) for Lyle MacArthur was the longest shot to hit the board.

1989: Goalie Jeff posts the biggest upset in North America Cup history with a $93.60 reward for those who believed, then, in the eventual 3YOPC of the Year for Tom Artandi. Kentucky Spur was oh-so-close to hanging on for the lone U.S.-born driver Richard Stillings. Campbell was fourth with Totally Ruthless for Steve Elliott. Both would have better days ahead in this event.

1990: Apache Fame ($5.90) became the first Ontario-bred and sired colt to win the Cup, holding off the furious challenge of Mark Johnathan (28-1), with Road Machine (51-1) third. Jake And Elwood was fourth and the defending Breeders Crown winner Till We Meet Again was eighth. Trainer Larry Rathbone would later atone for that eighth-place finish in 2004 with Mantacular. HOY Beach Towel broke early and lost all chance.

1991: Precious Bunny becomes the first NA Cup winner to be named HOY, the first to also win the Meadowlands Pace, and the first to do so with different drivers. Campbell in the Cup and Jack Moiseyev come Pace time as Campbell reunited with Artsplace who finished second. Start The Fire, at 15-1, finished second. This was the first of six North America Cups in the 1990s alone for Campbell!

1992: The 4-5 favorite, Carlsbad Cam finished fourth, second choice Western Hanover the pacesetter at 9-5 finished second, and Direct Flight was scratched. Mike Lachance was a late addition to team Safely Kept, a son from the very first crop of 1987 winner Jate Lobell. Joe Holloway trained and celebrated a pocket-sitting 1¾-length score returning $63.70. It would not be the last time Iron Mike Lachance would win this race having never driven the colt before (1998 Straight Path). The three aforementioned colts were heard from three weeks later as Carlsbad Cam won the Meadowlands Pace for father-and-son Carl-and-Rod Allen. Direct Flight was third as the slight favorite over Western Hanover who wound up seventh, impeded in the first turn.

1993: Ron Waples ably filled in on Presidential Ball for Jack Moiseyev who hurt his back hours prior at Freehold, returning $2.70 on the eventual 3YOPC of 1993. Another Cam Fella winner. Nineteen years later, Ron Waples’ son Randy would win the Cup with Thinking Out Loud. The winning margin was just a half-length over a 13-1 shot by the name The Starting Gate.

The first decade, the first million-dollar race, the first win for Campbell, the first Pepsi NA Cup, and the highest priced winner. Yep, there was a lot going on during that initial decade at Greenwood Raceway the host of Canada’s signature event.

Note: The next installment looks at the next batch of NA Cups, which feature sub 1:50 winners and the biggest pots ever offered north of the border.