The 2021 season of harness racing of Exhibtion Park Raceway concluded on Saturday (Oct. 23) with some of Eastern Canada's top rookies in action in the Milton Downey Memorial.
Stash It Away picked up his third straight win and eighth of his rookie campaign with a solid wire-to-wire score in the $9,000 Milton Downey Memorial for two-year-old male pacers. Corey MacPherson was at the lines for the 1:58.4 score over Soul Assassin (David Dowling) and Fern Hill General (Brodie MacPhee).
Stash It Away (Pang Shui - Allamerican Napa) is owned by Reg Mac Pherson of Stratford, P.E.I. while Kevin MacLean handles the training. Stash It Away now boasts a summary of 8-2-0 from 12 starts with $62,140 stashed away in earnings.
Girl In A Tavern was stellar in the companion split for pacing fillies, fending off a stubborn challenge from Therealprincess (MacPherson) throughout the mile and then holding off a late bid from pocket-sitter Ultimate Long Shot (Dowling) for a half-length 1:59.3 decision. Woodmere Jazz (Mark Haig) rallied for third.
Hughes trains Girl In A Tavern (Big Jim - Drinking Games) for Donald MacRae of Vernon Bridge, P.E.I. The win was the filly's seventh in 10 starts, with earnings of $27,742 from those outings.
The meet-closing card at EPR also featured a number of Autumn Gold Series finals. Ultimate Stable's Woodmere Ideal Art captured the $4,000 Final #1 in 1:56.1, holding off Little Manny by a nose for driver David Dowling and trainer/owner Sifroi Melanson.
Harvey Holm's Montrose Hope posted the 20-1 upset as the longest shot in the field of the $3,675 Autumn Gold Final #2, winning for driver Hughes and trainer Lucie St. Amour.
Emperor reigned supreme in the $3,150 Autumn Gold Final #3, winning handily for owner-trainer-driver Jeff Lewis in 1:59.2.
And last but certainly not least, the popular Philanthropist made his final start over the Saint John oval a winning one, capturing the $2,500 Autumn Gold Final for Dowling and owner-trainer Robert MacNeil in 2:04.4. The 14-year-old grey will reportedly make one final start in Prince Edward Island before facing mandatory retirement at the end of the year.
Melanson's win was his 14th of the season at Exhibition Park raceway, breaking his tie atop the training leaderboard with Ellen Stevenson to take the training title. In limited action, Todd Trites took home top driver honours with 15 wins and a sparkling .685 UDR in his 29 appearances.
To view the results for the Saturday card of harness racing from Exhibition Park, click the following link: Saturday Results - Exhibition Park Raceway.