They say the only guarantees in life are death and taxes. Thunder Alley winning in the season opener at Northside Downs isn't quite a lock on these levels, but the veteran pacer has shown remarkable consistency when it comes to delivering victory in his first start of the year for his current connections.
In 2023, the first start of the year for Thunder Alley came in his debut for trainer Heather Hawkins on June 17 at Northside — not the track's season opener that year, but the first seasonal start for the son of Mystery Chase - The Three Of Us. The then-seven-year-old knocked off the top local pacers in a time of 1:58.2.
One year later, Thunder Alley was part of opening day festivites at the Cape Breton oval in a lower class in 2024 but the result was the same: victory, this time over an off track in a time of 2:01.2. The mile time for the top class that day was 2:04.
Back in the Winners Over for the first card of 2025, Thunder Alley was sent off as the public choice in his nine-year-old debut. History repeated itself once again, as the veteran pacer towed driver Gerard Kennedy to the winner's circle after a dominant 2:00.2 decision.
Now 10, Thunder Alley faced four younger rivals in the $1,600 feature at Northside for the 2026 lidlifter on Saturday, May 9. Not sent off as the favourite on this occasion, he maintained his streak of first start success with a decisive on-the-engine tally.
Driver Kevin Bailey sent Thunder Alley to the top from post two, cleared the 1-2 rail-leaving favourite Ranked Contender (Ardon Mofford) and landed on the lead before the opening turn and controlled the outcome from there. After fractions of :29.2, 1:00.4 and 1:30.1, Thunder Alley sprinted home in :28.3 for the 1:58.4 score. Ranked Contender had no answers after a pocket trip and finished second, five lengths back with Kountry Diamond (Larry Snow) rounding out the top trio.
Now a 41-time winner with $103,459 in earnings, Thunder Alley is owned by Terri Morrison of Marion Bridge, Irwin Claener of New Waterford, Kirk MaRrae of Ben Eoin and Angus MacEachern of Howie Center, N.S. He returned $6.40 to win.
One race earlier, 12-year-old Candid Cameron ($13.60) cruised to victory for driver Ardon Mofford in 2:00.4, giving co-owner and trainer Colin Rankin of Sydney, N.S. his first career training win. Making his training debut on Saturday, Rankin sent out Sonny Jax to a third-place finish earlier on the card before notching his first training victory courtesy Candid Cameron.
Northside Downs will host 27 race dates in 2026, with the meet running through Nov. 14. Live harness racing will take place on Saturdays for most of the meet, with three exceptions. There will be no racing on Saturday, Aug. 15 as a Thursday, Aug. 13 card will be held instead; there will be no racing on Saturday, Oct. 10 as a Monday, Oct. 12 program will held in its place; and there will be no racing on Saturday, Oct. 31 as a Sunday, Nov. 1 card is scheduled that week.
Northside will play host to multiple stakes events throughout the meet, starting on June 20 with the Phil Pinkney Memorial for three-year-old pacing colts and a leg of the Atlantic Sires Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies. The North Sydney half-mile oval will also host legs of the Atlantic Sires Stakes on July 11 for three-year-old pacing colts and on Sept. 19 for two-year-old pacing fillies and the trotting divisions.
To view the results from Saturday's live card of harness racing entries, click the following link: Northside Downs - Saturday Results.
(Standardbred Canada)