Anyone looking for a sign that harness racing is alive and well on Prince Edward Island, look no further than Friday evening (June 10) as a pair of teenagers scored career defining moments at Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway.
The $3,300 featured Preferred 2 Pace was one starring moment for an up-and-coming star as Mantario came out of the clouds to win for rookie driver Damian MacLellan in 1:57.3. The Jennifer Doyle-trained pacer gave the 19-year-old MacLellan his first win in a feature event as he defeated heavily favoured Soccer Hanover (Ken Murphy) and third-place Moonwriter (David Dowling). Doyle owns the winning six-year-old Sportswriter gelding with Danny Birt of Vernon Bridge, P.E.I. The win was the seventh career driving success for MacLellan, a native of Inverness, N.S., who has only been a licensed driver for 15 days.
Alexis Gass kicked off her career in perfection in Race 5 of the evening as the Cornwall, P.E.I. trainer made her first lifetime start a winning one with Dustylane Zambucca in line to Murphy in 2:00.2. The 17-year-old trainer hails from a foundation family in Island racing with her grandfather Ron Gass being the master of Dusty Lane Farms.
Dustylane Zambucca also put the finishing touches on five straight wins by driver Murphy as he won the opening dash with Head Of State (2:03) for trainer Leith Waite, then kicked off a clean sweep of the Pick-4 in Race 2 with Betterthanglamor (1:58.4) from the Lester Stewart barn. Murphy proceeded to win Race 3 aboard Rymar Jimbo (1:57.1) by open lengths for owner/trainer Eric Doucette then captured Race 4 with Dorabella (2:02) for the mare’s second straight win for trainer Philip Desroche.
Live racing continues Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. AST at Red Shores Charlottetown.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Summerside Raceway.
(Red Shores)