It was a stakes Sunday as Red Shores Summerside hosted the Ruby Chappell Memorial Stakes for three-year-old fillies and the Bob Dewar Memorial Stakes for three-year-old pacing colts.
Saulsbrook Alana made her 2014 debut a winning one in a $6,200 division of the Ruby Chappell in race 11.
Under the command of Gilles Barrieau, the award-winning filly shot to the lead from post seven and cruised through fractions of :28.4, :58.3 and 1:28.1 en route to a 1:57 record-setting victory. Charlottes Style (Kenny Arsenault) was second by a quarter of a length with Tobins Beauty (Brodie MacPhee) taking third place honours.
Saulsbrook Alana's winning time shaved two-fifths of a second off Summerside's three-year-old pacing filly track record established by Malabrigo. It also matched the divisional Canadian season's record on a half-mile track.
The speedy Western Paradise-Atlanta Girl filly, who also holds the 1:55.1 two-year-old filly track record, won nine of 13 stakes last year while banking $61,473 in purses. She is trained by Kevin MacLean and owned by Reg MacPherson of Stratford, P.E.I.
The other Chappell division winners were: Pictonian Sareta (1:58.3) for trainer/driver Mike Stevenson and owner Daniel Ross of Belfast, P.E.I.; Dusty Lane Dora (1:57.4) and Corey MacPherson for trainer Elton Millar and owner/breeder Ron Gass of Cornwall, P.E.I.; and Elm Grove Inarush (1:58.1) with Mark Bradley aboard for the Kensington, P.E.I. ownership group of Blaine Thibeau, trainer Eddy Doucette, Gordon MacLeod and Grant Mann.
The three-year-old colts also took their turn in the stakes spotlight in four divisions of the Bob Dewar.
Waterside Light, owned by former NHL star Hilliard Graves of Charlottetown, wired the first split of the Dewar in 1:57 for trainer/driver Kenny Arsenault.
Atlantic Breeders Crown champion Dumas Walker delivered as the post time favourite in the second heat for horseman Myles Heffernan and partner Jackie Heffernan of Glace Bay, N.S., winning in 1:57.1.
Tobins Fusion took top honours in 1:59.3 for trainer/driver Gilles Barrieau in the third match-up. He is owned by Daniel Ross, Boyd Macdonald Prodce Ltd. of Crapaud, P.E.I. and Charles Seymour of Fredericton, N.B.
Super S Yzerman recovered nicely to capture the final leg of the Dewar in 1:57.3 for Clare MacDonald and co-owner/breeder Morah Kerr of Greenfield, P.E.I.
Bradley, Barrieau and MacPherson recorded driving doubles on the program as the third annual Drive for Charity kicked off during the card. Bradley is teaming up with Long Run Exploration to raise money for the Hillsboro Hospital. Barrieau is working with Metro Building Supplies as they support PEI Special Olympics. MacPherson has D&D Lawncare and Landscaping with his cheques being donated to PEI Humane Society. The Drive for Charity has 13 drivers earning money for Island charities until October 30, 2014.
Total wager was $20,454.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Summerside Raceway.
(With files from Red Shores)