Shock The Rock Upsets Top CDP Pacers
Shock The Rock shocked the Charlottetown Driving Park handicappers on Saturday evening as he slipped up the pylons to prevail at odds of 10-1 in the featured $2,200 Preferred Pace.
Leaving from post five, Shock The Rock and trainer-driver Mark MacKinnon cleared to command early on, but Wellthereyougo and Marc Campbell retook the lead during the first quarter. Shock The Rock played follow the leader through fractions of :28.1, :57.4, and 1:27 before zipping up the inside to prevail in a tight finish over favourite C L Eighty and John Holmes, who came through for second, and Wellthereyougo. Half a length separated the top three finishers at the wire in 1:56.4.
Sent postward as the second longest shot on the board, Shock The Rock paid $23.80 to win.
The five-year-old Village Jolt gelding is owned by Bethany MacLeod of New Dominion, P.E.I. The win was his fourth in nine starts on the Island.
Charlottetown Driving Park played host to the C.K.G. Billings Amateur Driving Series on Saturday, during which New Brunswick's Philip Bo Sowers won two of the three designated Billings races by a combined 21-1/2 lengths.
Sowers steered Forced to Travel ($3.20) to a 13 length victory in 1:58.3 for conditioner Gerald MacDougall and Wade Sorrie trainee Onehotvett ($5.50) to an eight and a half length tally in 1:58.2 in the first two events.
Florida-based driver Dein Spriggs won the third Billings race with the pocket-pulling Ufit ($11) prevailing by three-quarters of a length in 1:59.4 for trainer Donald MacNeill.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Charlottetown Driving Park.