Willow Warrior has the talent and the post position but she will need a little luck to knock off the best mares in Atlantic Canadian racing Thursday night at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
Willow Warrior has drawn post one in the sixth race Fillies and Mares Open Pace, with a $2,250 purse, with Mark Bradley listed to drive for trainer Brendan Curran and owner Alby Curran of Vernon Bridge, P.E.I. The three-year-old Western Terror filly sports an impressive summary of seven wins and three seconds from 12 seasonal starts, including a crushing 1:57.3 victory by 18-lengths in her latest start in a Lady Slipper division at the Summerside Raceway on Oct. 5. But the shift to aged company will not be an easy one as she faces the best aged mares Prince Edward Island has to offer.
The Jackie Matheson-trained duo of For All We Know (Gary Chappell) and General Luckypercy (Ron Matheson) have drawn posts five and six, respectively, in the compact field of half a dozen. Both rarely finish out of the top three and post four has another contender in Stayoutofmyaffair for trainer/driver Jason Hughes.
Race analyst Les MacIsaac goes with For All We Know to land in the historic CDP winner’s circle.
“With her offering a ‘not worse than second’ record from her last six starts and possessing a rallying style that should be well suited to this compact field she'll be hard to deny,” MacIsaac said of For All We Know.
Also in the field is Bettim Jenny (Marc Campbell) from post two and JK Special (Walter Cheverie) with post three.
A tough field of seven overnight pacers will put their noses on the gate in race 11 with Forever Paradise riding a three-race win streak from post three for driver Campbell, trainer Kevin Maclean and owner Reg MacPherson of Stratford, P.E.I. The Western Paradise four-year-old appears untouchable in the $2,200 class as he controls the front end every week and keeps a $13,050 claiming tag to remain in the same class. The next choices are Artners In Crime (Ron Matheson) and Cambest Kisser (Hughes) from posts one and six, respectively. Other entries include Every Day (Brian Andrew), The Big Bite (Mike Stevenson), Windemere Express (Chappell) and Machinthesand (Corey MacPherson).
The evening trot class lines up in race three for $1,150 and Juarez Cyclone (Brian MacPhee) gets the nod as morning line favourite over contenders Duchess Ofnormanby (Ken Murphy) and Howmacs Pride (Campbell).
First race post time for is 7 p.m. for the 12-dash card.
(Red Shores)