Top picks Mr Salming and Goin Large each delivered victories in their respective $10,200 Joe O'Brien Memorial Stakes Gold divisions for two-year-old pacing colts, which headlined Friday night's card at Summerside Raceway
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In the first and fastest division Mr Salming and driver Gary Chappell fought Ringmaster (Darren Crowe) for the lead past the opening quarter in :30.1 before drawing away from the field by three lengths en route to the half in 1:01.4. The Coastocoast Yankee-First To Fly colt was met with a challenge from his stablemate Island Redemption (Gilles Barrieau) at three-quarters in 1:30.2, but kicked home in :29.1 for the four and a quarter length victory in 1:59.3 over a track rated 'good'.
Island Redemption stayed for second and Ringmaster rounded out the top three finishers.
With the win, Mr Salming improved his record to 4-3-0 in eight starts and lifted his earnings to $23,181 for trainer Gillies Barrieau and owners Boyd Macdonald Prodce Ltd. of Crapaud and Daniel Ross of Belfast, P.E.I.
Goin Large took the second split in front-stepping fashion for trainer/driver Darren Crowe in a time of 2:01.2. The Benvolio Hanover-Roza Robota colt led the way to first quarter in :31, the half in 1:03 and three-quarters in 1:31.3 en route to a one and a half length score.
Jersey Joe (Leonard Myers) travelled first-over to get second and Woodmere Jethro (Ken Murphy) followed his cover for third.
Owned by the Kickin Horse Stable of Stratford, P.E.I., Goin Large has put together a record reading 3-1-2 in 10 starts giving him $17,216 in earnings.
A pair of $6,800 Grassroots divisions were also contested on Friday. Sea Danny Win went wire-to-wire to win his assignment in 2:06 for trainer/driver Allan Earl Smith, while Tellyounolie converted a pocket trip into a 2:02.2 score for trainer/driver Kenny Arsenault.
In other action, Stratford's Stacey Lund scored a training hat trick on the 12-race card bringing her yearly win total to 25 and earnings to over $37,000. Chappell, who enjoyed a driving grand slam, engineered winning trips for Island Sea Storm (2:04.2), Triage (2:00) and Negrito (2:00.1). Lund now has 84 wins on her career record and is nearing the $100,000 mark in earnings.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click here.