Sophomores Star In MacKenzie Stakes

Therealprincess in the Truro Raceway winner's circle
Published: October 30, 2022 05:10 pm EDT

Trainer Eddy Doucette's star three-year-old pacing filly Therealprincess rebounded from her only loss this season in the Atlantic Breeders Crown with a dominant victory in Sunday's (Oct. 30) stakes action at Truro Raceway.

Therealprincess (pictured above) kicked off the Carl & Marg MacKenzie Memorial Stakes, winning the first $10,735 filly division in wire-to-wire fashion by 4-1/2 lengths for Doucette and his Kensington, P.E.I. partners, Blaine Thibeau, Gordon MacLeod and Grant Mann.

Therealprincess chased the starting car away from post four and driver Corey MacPherson guided the Source Of Pride-Deviliciously Good filly through fractions of :29.3, :59.1 and 1:28 without facing any challengers on the way to a 1:56 victory. Cantstopthelovin (David Dowling) and West River Glo (Rinaldo MacDonald) followed in second and third, respectively.

A runner-up in the Atlantic Breeders Crown last time out on Oct. 9 at Charlottetown Driving Park, Therealprincess is just a half-length shy of a perfect sophomore season, boasting 15 wins and more than $105,000 in earnings. Lifetime, the pacing princess has amassed $141,568 from 28 starts with 20 triumphs, three seconds and a third.

Therealprincess, who equalled the 1:54.3 divisional track record in the Donnie & George Turner Memorial Stakes in June, paid $2.10 to win as the 1-9 favourite.

 JJ Scarlett was also a gate-to-wire winner in the other filly division for her Inverness connections, driver Redmond Doucet, trainer Walter Walker and the Wwggmacinnismackinnon Stable.

She led the field through opening splits of :29.2 and :59.1 before shaking off a challenge from Ultimate Long Shot (David Dowling) to three-quarters in 1:27.4 and opening up 5-3/4 lengths to the wire in 1:56.2.  The rest of the field fought for the runner-up honours, with pocket-sitter Mermaid Magic (Brodie MacPhee) holding on to place over KCs Starlite (Stephen Trites).

JJ Scarlett picked up her third win of the season from 16 starts to go along with five other top three finishes and nearly $29,000 in earnings. The Tobago Cays-J J Hanna Dawn filly is now 10-for-28 lifetime with $87,834 banked.
 
Sent off as the 8-5 favourite, she paid $5.40 to win.

The three-year-old pacing colt division was headlined by Atlantic Breeders Crown champion Fern Hill Gusto, who didn't disappoint as the 1-2 favourite for trainer/driver Marc Campbell.

Fern Hill Gusto blasted to command from the inside to post a :27.3 opener then cruised through middle splits of :57 and 1:25.4 before widening his leading margin to 3-1/4 lengths. The Stonebridge Terror-Helen O Grace colt earned his third win in a row, reaching the wire in 1:54.1. Soul Assassin (David Dowling) followed in second and Fern Hill General (Brodie MacPhee) advanced first-up down the backstretch to take third.

Fern Hill Gusto has won half of his 20 sophomore starts after winning just one of six as a two-year-old. The lion's share of the purse boosted his career bankroll to $76,953 for owner Grayland Farm of Gulf Shore, N.S.

Fern Hill Gusto returned $3.10 to win.

The weekly $2,500 Winners Over Pace went to 4-5 favourite Batterup Hanover, who crossed to command from post five off the gate and led every step of the way in a 1:52.4 mile for trainer/driver Paul Langille. The four-year-old Betting Line-Beachbunny Hanover gelding bested Frontier Cruise (Robert Laffin) and last week's winner American Risk (Redmond Doucet) by 5-1/4 lengths. Batterup Hanover is now a three-time winner this year for his Nova Scotia owners, Debbie Francis, Rosanne Langille, Douglas Lowthers and Chantel Langille.

To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Truro Raceway.

(Replay of Race 6 is currently not available.)

Tags
Have something to say about this? Log in or create an account to post a comment.