What a year. What a career. Abundaspin, a 14-year-old trotter owned by Mikaela Lustic of Cornwall, P.E.I., recorded his 80th lifetime win in the afternoon trot class Saturday at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
Harold Shepherd was in the bike for the mile, putting the veteran on the point to lead through all stations. The race marked his 387th lifetime start, which also includes 65 seconds and 40 third-place finishes. He went into the card with $481,994 in earnings.
This happened under strange circumstances. There was no race call or broadcast of the race because just as track announcer Vance Cameron picked up the field behind the gate, the power went out knocking off all systems, which included the broadcast.
Abundaspin was greeted in the winner’s circle with an official picture of the milestone. His racing career will come to an end on December 31, 2014.
In other action, Narragansett edged out his stablemate and fraction-setter Astor (Jason Hughes) to take top honours in the afternoon feature for driver Mark Bradley. It was a one-two finish for Foxyhall Racing stable of Summerside, who owns the pacing stars. All Turain (Mike Stevenson) was third. The one-length victory was charted in 1:57.3 over a track rated "good" with a one second variant. It was Bradley’s second winner of the day.
Corey MacPherson had a driving triple on the card, which included two scores aboard Blair MacLeod trainees Graymercy Hanover and Shock The Rock. Stonebridge Wish, trained by Trevor Hicken, also made up the hat-trick.
Marc Campbell had a driving double. Jason Hughes did have a winner on the day so the drivers remained tied in the standings with 102 wins.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Charlottetown Driving Park.
(Red Shores)