Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park will host the final race card of the Winter Meet on a special Friday evening, Feb. 2, while celebrating the 35th edition of the national O’Brien Awards being held in the capital city.
The 10-dash presentation will start at 6 p.m. in front of a packed Top Of The Park with many O’Brien Award nominees and Standardbred Canada directors from across the continent to be in attendance for the awards banquet that will be held the next night at Delta Hotels by Mariott Prince Edward honouring the best in Canadian harness racing from 2023.
Shawn Steacy, trainer of Three-Year-Old Pacing Filly nominee and Horse of the Year contender Sylvia Hanover, will make his Island debut in the race bike as he will steer Fluentocity from post one in race eight of the evening. The dash is presented by Standardbred Canada, with Ontario native Steacy driving for trainer Blaine Baglole of Cornwall, P.E.I. Baglole co-owns the daughter of Well Said with his son Shane, who previously worked for the Steacy Stable in Ontario.
Southfield Sandy is favoured in the race one Allstar Cresting Pace with Brady Sweet driving from post three for trainer Jeff Holmes and owner Route Nineteen Racing of Long Point, N.S.
Race two is presented by the Prince County Horsemen’s Club with Woodmere Xspeedia looking for his second straight for the team of driver Ken Murphy and trainer Joe Baxter. Wild Ride Stable of Kensington, P.E.I. holds the ownership papers.
The Red Shores pace in race three will feature Screen Test as the top choice with post five for trainer/driver Corey MacPherson and owners Bill Andrew of Calgary, Alta., and Kickin Horse Stable of York, P.E.I.
Elroy Shiner goes for his third straight in the P.E.I. Standardbred Horse Owner’s Association pace in race four for driver Sweet, trainer Holmes and owner Frank Sweet of Knutsford, P.E.I.
Sports Icon will try to extend her streak to four in the P.E.I. Harness Racing Industry Association Pace in race five with Patrick Shepherd driving the Harold Shepherd trainee for owner Martin Kuepfer of Elmwood, Ont.
Ocean 100.3 sponsors race six with Youremyhearthrob looking to deliver as the favourite from post two for trainer/driver David Dowling and Island owners Brittany Dowling of Springvale and Clair Murphy of Millvale.
The Danny Birt-owned Elm Grove Mistress gets top call in the MCA Consultants Inc. pace in race seven with Jason Hughes driving for trainer Jennifer Doyle.
The $3,600 feature for Preferred pacers lines up in race nine in the Joe O’Brien Memorial. Rollwithhottytoddy has toyed with his foes for four straight weeks in this class and will attempt to keep owner/trainer Trevor Hicken perfect in 2023 in the horseman’s eighth start of the year. Myles Heffernan Sr. will drive from post six.
Fans arriving for the night will have a chance to fill out a ballot for a chance to win some autographed merchandise from P.E.I. native James MacDonald, who is up for his third O'Brien Award trophy as Canada’s Driver of the Year. MacDonald, along with Trainer of the Year finalist Dr. Ian Moore and Nicole MacPherson of Retromedia, will be special guests on the Race Day broadcast with Lee Drake, Vance Cameron, Peter MacPhee and Ken Warkentin. The pre-game show begins at 5:30 p.m.
Catch all the action live at the track or tune into the worldwide broadcast at Redshores.ca.
To view Friday's harness racing entries, click the following link: Friday Entries - Charlottetown Driving Park.
(With files from Red Shores)