Rewind: Betting Line wins 2016 NA Cup

TORONTO, June 13, 2023 – In May of 2016 Jonathan Drury drove Betting Line (Bettor’s Delight) to a runner-up finish in his seasonal harness racing debut at Woodbine Mohawk Park. It was a standard early season overnight tune-up for a sophomore pointed at major summer stakes.

Afterwards, Drury told trainer Casie Coleman that he was upset because he was going to be the only driver to lose all season sitting behind Betting Line. Incredibly, Drury was correct. Betting Line won his next 14 races, including the 2016 Pepsi North America Cup in thrilling fashion.

“JD drove him great that night, and just got beat late,” said Coleman. “But to go on that win streak, in the three-year-old colt year, the toughest year, racing in all of those stake races you think at some point he has to get beat. But the horse was just amazing.”

In his next start Betting Line defeated conditioned foes, before winning the Somebeachsomewhere, a Pepsi North America Cup prep.

Drury sat behind him for both wins, but Coleman tipped Hall of Famer David Miller to drive him the colt in the Cup eliminations. Miller had never driven the colt in a race, but had trained him a few times. He thought Betting Line was a nice horse, but not quite at the level Coleman believed he was.

“The first time Dave was ever sitting behind him in a race was in the elimination of the Pepsi North America Cup,” said Coleman. “This horse was a different horse from training to racing, and when he got the job done in the elimination and was in the winner’s circle, Dave was smiling ear to ear, and was like ‘oh my god now I see what you’re talking about with this horse’.”

When the wings rolled in the $1 million Final, Miller and Betting Line sat off an early pace set by Lyons Snyder and Control the Moment who led the field through a half mile in 53.4 and three quarters in 1:20.3.

Around the far turn Miller and Betting Line turned on the after burners and paced home in 25.4 to establish a new stakes and at the time Canadian record mark of 1:47.4.

“I thought he was the best horse and so did the public. He was the favourite that night,” said Coleman. “But just the way it was all setting up I went from thinking we’re the best; we’re going to win this to at the (half-mile) thinking let’s get a good cheque. Then to end up winning, I think I was halfway standing on the racetrack by the time he was coming down the lane.”

The win was Coleman’s second Pepsi North America Cup win, and just like her first one with Sportswriter it was life changing.

“For all the connections, you win the race as colt, there’s a good chance you’re going to go to stud once you’re racing career is over and that obviously is awesome,” said Coleman. “Then as a trainer to show you can train a stakes horse like that, and win that type of race. It’s like winning the Stanley Cup.”

When asked what she remembers best from that night, outside of his charge down the lane, Coleman highlighted the crowd, and energy at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

“There’s no feeling like that night,” said Coleman. “The way the crowd is that night, it’s standing room only Cup night. It’s a lot of fun and a great feeling.”

Over the course of his 14 wins that included the Pepsi North America Cup, Betting Line also picked up wins in the Little Brown Jug, Carl Milstein Memorial, Battle of Brandywine and the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final, earning $1.6 million, Horse of the Year honours in Canada and a divisional Dan Patch award.

Betting Line’s win in the Pepsi North America Cup was historic because it was Miller’s first Cup win, and the first victory by a Bettors Delight offspring.

The perennial leading Ontario Sire has shaped the standardbred breed in Ontario, and around the world, and the win etched into the record books of Canada’s most prestigious race.

“It was amazing and a whole lot of fun,” said Coleman. “Every time you put that horse behind the gate you knew he was giving you everything he had, and I was always very confident in him.”

From Ontario Racing