The first events in the Island Breeders Series will be held on Sunday, May 27 at the Red Shores Summerside track on Prince Edward Island. Four divisions of pacing fillies will compete in the Ruby Chappell Memorial while the five divisions of pacing colts vie for the Bob Dewar Memorial trophies.
To view entries for Sunday's card, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Red Shores Summerside.
Breeders Series action will continue at Summerside in early August with the two-year-olds competing in the George Callbeck stakes, named after the first President of the PEI Colt Stakes, the oldest continuous stakes program in Canada celebrating its 84th year. Also raced on Callbeck Stakes day will be the first leg of Series action for three-year-old trotters. This race was previously known as The Maple Leaf, named after a local dairy sponsor, but this year will be renamed the Tyndal Semple Memorial. Semple was a legendary trot trainer/driver from the Summerside area who campaigned for sixty years winning several Colt Stakes Championships including three consecutive years with his most famous prodigy, the trotter Little Art.
The second leg of the Series sees all gaits and ages compete in September in three days of action for the 84th running of the PEI Colt Stakes at Red Shores in Charlottetown. Points earned in the two legs of the series determine the entries for the Island Breeders Championships held in late October. All told, there will be around 60 races contested for total purses of over $250,000 during the 2018 season. The PEI Government is a major contributor to the Series which is of great importance to the Standardbred breeding industry on PEI, the second largest jurisdiction of its kind in Canada.
(with files from the PEI Colt Stakes)