Intended Royalty had to do it the hard way but came out on top in the Saturday, Jan. 12 feature at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
Mike McGuigan was in the sulky for the $2,200 event leaving from post seven with Intended Royalty at 5-1 odds. Euchred set the early tempo as the post-time favourite, posting splits of :29.3 and :59.2. Intended Royalty advanced at the half-mile marker while being forced three-wide for a short period before the five-eighths.
Euchred opened his margin before three-quarters in 1:29.4 with Intended Royalty gobbling ground to sit in the two-hole heading towards the stretch. Intended Royalty overcame Euchred in a stretch-drive slugfest to win in 1:59.4 with Burn Out Hanover finishing third.
Randy Copley of Inverness, N.S., co-owns and trains Intended Royalty with co-owner Ed Copley. The victory put the veteran pacer over $100,000 in career purse earnings.
Marc Campbell, the King of Island racing, is already establishing his lead in the Red Shores Charlottetown Driving standings as he had four wins on the afternoon card.
Campbell was a wire-to-wire winner with Pictonian Sareta in Race 2 with a mile time of 2:04.3 for his first win of the day. The next three came in quick succession as he captured Races 5, 6 and 7. Cougar Gal was a 2:04.1 winner from the Neil Bambrick stable, then Malabrigo captured race 6 in 2:02.3 from Campbell’s own barn followed by a 2:03.2 victory with Windsun Rebel for trainer Vaughan Doyle.
(With files from Red Shores Charlottetown)
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Charlottetown Driving Park.