YS Lotus shattered Red Shores Summerside's all-age track record with a 1:51.4 romp in the 48th edition of the $22,000 Governor's Plate, presented by Summerside Chrysler Dodge, on Saturday, July 16.

With Marc Campbell in the sulky, the favoured elimination winner YS Lotus blazed through a :26.4 opening quarter to establish the lead from post seven over insider Big Surf and began to extend his leading margin through middle fractions of :54.3 and 1:22.4 en route to the six-length triumph. His 1:51.4 winning time was one second and one-fifth faster than the former track record held by Big Surf and two-time Governor's Plate champion D Gs Camme, who advanced first over in this year's edition to finish second. Jeb finished third with Ok Galahad and Big Surf completing the top five finish order.

“Once he got to the front, he kind of ran away and I just let him,” first-time Governor's Plate winner Marc Campbell was quoted as saying after the race by the Journal Pioneer. “I knew D Gs Camme was back there somewhere, and I wanted to open up some daylight on him.”

A five-year-old gelded son of If I Can Dream, YS Lotus is trained by Rene Allard and owned by Yves Sarrazin of La Presentation, Que.

“He shows 1:51 and 1:52 consistently on a half-mile track,” said Campbell of the Yonkers Raceway regular. “He had a good week here.

“[Prince Edward Islander] Jordan MacKay did a terrific job with him. He had him swimming in French River, and let him run like a dog. He’s a really nice quiet horse, and Jordan deserves a lot of credit.”

"My friend Jordan, we had talked back and forth about sending a horse over and I was looking through my barn trying to figure out which one was the right one," said Allard in a post-race interview. "Obviously, there's no Lasix program so I had to pick one that I know had no bleeding issue and that one I thought was the one."

YS Lotus proved Allard correct, winning his elimination in 1:53.4 after a long ship to P.E.I. due to a trucking issue and then following up that effort with Saturday's record performance. He paid $3.90 to win in the final.

Foxyhall Racing's Narragansett and trainer/driver Jason Hughes won the $5,000 consolation in 1:55 flat over favourite Forever Paradise.

In the $3,500 Governor's Plate Mares Open Pace, Shadows Mystery rallied wide off the cover of last week's distaff track record-setter All Chocolate and prevailed by half a length ahead of the oncoming favourite, Ramblinglily, in a career-best clocking of 1:54.1. Pacesetter Best Risque finished two lengths behind in third. Gilles Barrieau drove the winning five-year-old Shadow Play mare for trainer Jackie Matheson and owner Gordon Ford.

The Governor's Plate undercard also included the first leg of the Atlantic Sires Stakes for the three-year-old pacing colts and geldings, with sons of Brandon Cowboy sweeping all three $9,220 "A" divisions.

Magical Cowboy defeated the popular 2015 Atlantic Breeders Crown champion Jackson K Down in the first "A" division, winning in a career-best 1:56.4 with Corey MacPherson in the bike for owners Barry Martin and Stephen Gass. The win was part of a training triple on the card for Ronnie Gass.

In a battle of Brandon Cowboy sons, Offshore Cowboy and Hughes wore down Beaus Cowboy for the quarter-length victory in a new lifetime mark of 1:56.4. The Don Millgan trainee is owned by Kent Williams and Lyndon Hardy.

Trained and driven by Kenny Arsenault, Lukes Cowboy held off favourite Heart And Soul to win the third split by half a length in 1:56.3 for owners Philip Valley, Jeffery Ruch and Glenn Bechtel.

The $2,500 "B" division winners were Silverhill Storm and Hughes in 1:58.2, Keen Edge and Danny Romo in 1:59.2, and Rosewood and Arsenault in 1:59.1.

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Summerside Raceway.