The capital oval will play host to programs Saturday (November 18) and Sunday (November 19) afternoon with 12:30 p.m. (Atlantic) start times and the ‘King’ of Island racing looking to make more history.
Red Shores’ leading driver Marc Campbell has 137 wins so far this season at Red Shores Charlottetown, and is inching closer to his own all-time dash title at the capital oval after winning 144 races in the 2016 season. Counting action this weekend, there are 10 programs left for Campbell’s pursuit of another record.
Campbell will look to get one of those record-breaking wins in the Saturday afternoon feature with Forever Paradise. The son of Western Paradise will search for a repeat performance in the $2,250 Preferred II pacing finale on the 12-race Saturday afternoon card. The Kevin MacLean trainee was a winner in 1:55.4 last Sunday on the final day of 2017 live racing at Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway and gets Campbell back in the bike. The 56-time winner is owned by Reg MacPherson, David MacKenzie, and Aaron MacKenzie. Forever Paradise gets post 3 this week while Simon Said also gets a favourable starting post with number 2 on the gate. The Joey Squires-trained Simon Said teamed up with Mark Bradley to upset the top pacers on the grounds last weekend in the Preferred class and will look to build on that 1:56.1 victory. Painted Desert has been on a roll this fall at Red Shores Summerside in the top event, but has to contend with post 8 this week for driver Corey MacPherson.
Race analyst Les MacIsaac likes the chances of Forever Paradise to land in the winner’s circle Saturday afternoon.
“Forever Paradise got away from the bearcats last week and responded with a season’s best performance,” MacIsaac said. “Off an effort like that there’s not much to dislike, so don’t rule out a repeat.”
Other entries include Perfect Escape (Gilles Barrieau), The Big Bite (Walter Cheverie), Mando Fun (Kenny Arsenault), Mr Irresistible (Jason Hughes) and Smiley Bayama (Adam Merner).
In other action, the ultra-competitive Open pace for mares lines up behind the gate in race nine for a $2,250 purse. The class has had four different winners in the last five weeks, and they all meet again Saturday, including top entries Ramblinglily (Ken Murphy), Good Luck Kathy (Hughes), Prettyndangerous (Merner) and Itsallaboutthebass (Arsenault).
Even though he was defeated his last time out, Freddie headlines the third-race $1,850 Open trot as the morning line favourite for trainer-driver Campbell and owners Three Wisemen Stable of Kingston. The 36-time winner gets the outside post in the field of six after losing by a narrow margin to Holy Molie Maggie (MacPherson) last week. That mare will leave from post 3 in this week’s contest.
Sunday afternoon’s program features 13 races, headlined by a $2,550 Preferred I pace in race 12. In a rare occurrence, not a single horse in the field of six shows a win in their last start.
Adkins Hanover was narrowly upset last week at Charlottetown in this class and gets post 4 on Sunday for driver Corey MacPherson, trainer Trevor Hicken and owner Perry Burke. The eight-year-old son of Western Ideal has already won 12 races on the season, with front-end tactics yielding most of his results. Rose Run Quest has post 6 while he looks to defend his incredible record of 12 straight top-three finishes since coming to P.E.I., while his trainer-driver will be looking to make more history with just seven more wins needed to equal his record. Czar Seelster has rail control in the Preferred pace after last week finally missing the top two since relocating to the Island. Todd Weatherbee trains and drives the pacer.
“Adkins Hanover’s modest winning streak came to an end last week after doing all the road work, but it was still a big effort,” MacIsaac said. “Should have a fairly easy path to the front today, and if Corey can steal a fraction it could be all over.”
Other entries in the deep field include Junebugs Baby (Myles Heffernan), Red Magician (Barrieau) and Allstar Seelster (Norris Rogers).
Race three has a newcomer to Island racing with DJ Supreme leaving from post 4 in the $1,600 event. Terry Gallant now trains and drives the nine-year-old son of Force Of Life for owner William McElvain of Maine. The 28-time-winner was racing at Bangor Raceway and was formerly campaigned on the Atlantic Sires Stakes circuit in Nova Scotia in 2010-2011.
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(Red Shores)