The streaking Invitational pacer Roll Em and Atlantic Sires Stakes glamour boys headlined Sunday's Atlantic Grand Circuit stakes card at Truro Raceway.
Roll Em put the exclamation point on Atlantic Grand Circuit Week as he rolled to his fifth straight win with a record performance in the $7,500 Lindsay Construction Cup Invitational Pace for trainer/driver Marc Campbell.
The inside pair left into the opening turn and battled for the top spot though a :26.2 bullet before all-age track record holder Twin B Tuffenuff (Gilles Barrieau) pulled ahead of Batterup Hanover (Paul Langille).
As Twin B Tuffenuff led to the half in :55, Campbell sent Roll Em first-over from fifth on the front side and went head-to-head with the leader. Roll Em took the lead racing on the outside past three-quarters in 1:23.2 then drew clear in the final turn en route to the 1:51.3 victory, matching the Campbell-campaigned Time To Dance's 2021 track record for a gelding. Twin B Tuffenuff settled for second and Rollwithhottytoddy (Myles Heffernan) finished third.
"He's tough," said Campbell when asked about being stretched out by Twin B Tuffenuff. "So stretched out, he was just kind of out there doing his thing. Twin B Tuffenuff put up a big fight today. I kind of thought that's what was going to happen and it was a good horse race and our horse came out on top today."
Roll Em paid $2.80 to win as the 2-5 favourite in the field reduced to seven with the scratch of American Risk.
A 24-time winner with a bankroll totalling $391,022, the five-year-old Time To Roll gelding joined the Campbell stable this year in Canada and is being pointed to the Gold Cup & Saucer. He is six-for-11 on the campaign for his P.EI. owners, Brady Doyle of Stratford, Brent Campbell of Charlottetown, Ryan MacLeod of Souris and Savage Stable of Stratford.
"I thought I was going to have different tactics today than we did the last couple of weeks [racing on the front]," noted Campbell. "I was perfectly ok with just sitting back. The horse is so versatile, he can race any type of way. That's kind of why we really wanted to get him because we've learned over the last few years you really need a versatile horse to win these races and he's just really showed up the last five or six weeks."
With his victory in the Sunday finale, which was his fourth of the day, Campbell clinched the Ron Harris Memorial Trophy as leading driver at Atlantic Grand Circuit Week.
The top tier three-year-old pacing colts and geldings featured earlier in the afternoon's first $10,360 Atlantic Sires Stakes division were no match for Malignity as the 1-4 favourite romped to a new lifetime mark of 1:53.1 for trainer/driver Paul Langille.
Leaving from post two, Malignity took control right off the wings of the starting gate and opened up a quick four-length lead. He continued on top in a race of his own through fractions of :27, :55.4 and 1:24.4 en route to the 10-length triumph. Woodmere Dealer (Jason Hughes) won the race for place over Fishermans Son (Walter Walker).
Malignity extended his current stakes win streak to three in a row. Fresh off a 1:54 blowout victory in the opening leg of the Atlantic Sires Stakes on July 15 at Summerside Raceway, Malignity paid $2.50 to win.
The Malicious-Lady Kelleigh Anne gelding sent his lifetime earnings over the $100,000 mark with his 13th win from 17 career starts for owners Debbie Francis of Sweets Corner, N.S., and Rosanne Langille of Lower Onslow, N.S.
Malignity completed a training triple for Langille and gave the Lower Onslow, N.S. horseman his fourth driving win on the 13-race card.
No Boats On Sunday and driver Myles Heffernan Sr. also took a new lifetime mark in the other Atlantic Sires Stakes division after duking it out with first leg winner Proudofyatoday in a 1:55.4 mile.
No Boats On Sunday chased the gate away from the outside post six and worked his way to the lead as insider Proudofyatoday (Marc Campbell) strung him out and then retook the lead by the :28 quarter mark. Elm Grove Restwind (David Dowling) went first-over from fourth after a :58 first lap of the track and pressed the pace to three-quarters in 1:26.4 but couldn't sustain his bid turning into the stretch, where No Boats On Sunday escaped from the pocket and caught Proudofyatoday right at the wire in a photo finish. Starship Art (Gilles Barrieau) rounded out the top three finish order.
Sent postward as the fourth choice at odds of 5-1 and finishing in front of the 9-5 co-favourites, No Boats On Sunday returned $13.10 to win.
A one-time winner as a two-year-old, the Source Of Pride-Howmac Impeccable gelding picked up his first sophomore victory in 10 starts while under the care of trainer Jeff Holmes. With the win, No Boats On Sunday boosted his bankroll to $41,773 for owner Jackie Heffernan of Glace Bay, N.S.
A photo finish in the $4,000 B division went the way of the maiden-breaking Arthurs Shadow and driver Marc Campbell as the Jason Hughes student nosed out his trainer and stablemate Tobins Party in 1:57.3.
Sunday afternoon's stakes action also included the opening leg of the Atlantic Aged Pacing Mares Series with a pair of $3,315 divisions going to Sugar Bowl and Plain Jane.
Sugar Bowl's five-race win streak was upended last time out, but the four-year-old Sweet Lou mare resumed her winning ways in the first series split for trainer/driver Jason Hughes and owners Tommy Collings and Brian MacPhee of Mount Stewart, P.E.I.
Atlantic Star (Mark Campbell) got the first call out of post two with Sugar Bowl leaving from the far outside and bypassing a three-hole in pursuit of the top spot. She cleared to command at the quarter :27.1 and took a 30-second breather to the half. Sugar Bowl continued to lead the field of six distaffers to three-quarters in 1:26.1 and held off a pair in pursuit from the outer flow at the end of a 1:54.3 mile, paying $5.50 to win as the 8-5 second choice on the toteboard. Chelski (Darren Crowe) persisted first-over to claim the runner-up honours while the favoured Share The Moment (Gilles Barrieau) fanned off her cover in the stretch and finished third.
Just prior to Roll Em's Invitational victory, trainer/driver Marc Campbell drove Plain Jane to a career-best 1:53.1 triumph in the other mares series division for breeder Leigh Gavin and co-owner Faith Gavin of Tignish, P.E.I.
The popular mares track record holder, Acefortyfour Dome (Jason Hughes), secured the early lead from the inside post position but a parked-out Plain Jane pressed on from post four and drew three lengths clear after the contested 27-second opening quarter. After leading through middle splits of :55.3 and 1:24.2, Plain Jane kept the pocket-popping Acefortyfour Dome at bay through the stretch to win by a length, coming within three-fifths of a second of the divisional track record. The five-year-old Shadow Play mare, who has won half of her dozen starts this year, paid $7.90 to win as te 5-2 second choice. Threrealprincess (Michael Downey) advanced first-over to finish third.
Prior to Sunday's stakes action, an accident occurred in the first turn of the third race when Whistlen Cricket (Craig Carey) broke stride racing four-wide and hooked wheels with Crime Boss (Greg Munro) to his inside. Carey was tossed from the sulky during the incident while Whistlen Cricket fell to the track. As the race was called off while the rest of the horses headed down the backstretch, Gilles Barrieau was dumped from Jackflash Is A Gas in another incident. Both horses ran loose for some time before being corralled. Officials from Truro Raceway reported that both drivers and horses involved avoided serious injury. The race was declared a No Contest with $2,141.72 in wagers refunded.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Truro Raceway.
(Truro Raceway's replay of the Atlantic Sires Stakes division won by No Boats On Sunday in unavailable).