Red Shores Summerside hosted the Maritime Breeders Finals for trotters on Sunday afternoon with the stakes streaking Phantom Beau and rebounding Rash Statement sharing the spotlight.
Fresh off victories in the Atlantic Breeders Crown and his Maritime Breeders elimination, Phantom Beau, driven by Kenny Arsenault, delivered as the post time favourite in the two-year-old contest in 2:08.2 over a sloppy track with a three second variant due to rain. The homebred Bo W-Safe House colt, trained by John Pineau, took the lion’s share of the $8,600 purse with Dusty Lane Galaxy (Gary Chappell) and Glencove Yoshi (Mike Stevenson) rounding out the top three pay-outs over five lengths behind. Peter Breau of Moncton, N.B. is the winning owner.
Rebounding from a break in stride in the Atlantic Breeders Crown, Rash Statement pulled off a mild upset in winning the $7,100 Maritime Breeders Final for three-year-olds. Walter Cheverie put the trotter on the front and turned away all challengers for the gate-to-wire victory in 2:07.3. The race was named in honour of John “Buddy” Campbell. The Northern Bailey-Reloaded gelding is owned and trained by Joe Smallwood of Stratford, P.E.I. Meridian Farms bred the champion. I Aint No Lady (Garth Coles) was second while West River Xcel (Clare MacDonald) was third. Cheverie had a driving triple on the day.
Meridian Farms also presented three $1,500 divisions of the David Rose Memorial Series. Driver Corey MacPherson swept all three second leg events with Keystone Nobility, Micrometerjack and Life Savior.
The top class went to Le Fugueur for Marc Campbell in 2:01.4. The nine-length winner is conditioned by Darren Trainor for his wife Jennifer.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Summerside Raceway.
(With files from Red Shores)