Shes In The Moment found herself in the moment after winning by a neck in the $2,500 Fillies and Mares Preferred 3 at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park on Thursday (July 28).
Despite broken equipment, the four-year-old mare managed to sprint to the wire ahead of favoured Ill Tell Me Ma who led the field from the start. Out of the gate, Shes In The Moment and Mark Bradley retreated to fourth position. After a :28.2 first quarter, the pair pulled first up to make their move towards the front. She pushed on through times of :58.2 and 1:27.1 at the half and three-quarter pole, but Ill Tell Me Ma and Gilles Barrieau fended her off from taking over. When the field turned for home, it appeared that the duo had lost a few steps, but Bradley urged the mare forward. Together, they crossed the wire in 1:56.1.
Tom Weatherbie trains the mare by Control The Moment, out of the Art Major mare Sara Sue. She is owned by Blair and Carl Hansen, Isaac Schurman, and Cecil Villard. In 36 starts, she has accumulated nine wins, five seconds and four thirds with $17,277 in career earnings.
In the finale, the front end was stepping, but it was Phil Dorleans who emerged from the pack and landed in the winner’s circle.
Race favourite Cindys Party Boy (Mark McKinnon) was sent hard to the lead in the $2,200 class and set the tempo in :26.4 and :55.1, giving way up the backstretch heading to the 1:26.4 three-quarters. The rest of the field swarmed the leader in the final quarter and Phil Dorleans came calling to win by half-a-length in 1:57.1 over Mission Three (Ken Murphy) and The Big Chase (Corey MacPherson). Jason Hughes trains and drives Phil Dorleans for owners Kent and Andrew Williams and Lyndon Hardy.
Hughes also won earlier on the card from his own stable as he steered Century J Rock to a 1:59.3 maiden breaking score in Race 2 for owners Tommy and John Collings.
Marc Campbell crossed the wire first in four separate races on the evening for the grand slam. The Orwell driver won with Billy Bayama (1:56) for trainer Blaine McKenna, Zack The Men (1:58.1) from the Michael MacDonald barn, and St Charlesfireball (1:55.2) and Cutter Loose (1:57), both from his own stable. Campbell now sits third for drivers at the capital oval with 39 victories after winning the dash race the past 12 seasons. David Dowling (45 wins) leads the way amongst drivers but is absent from action this week after undergoing an operation with Gilles Barrieau (40 wins) in second place.
Live racing continues Saturday evening featuring Harness The Hope and the Standardbred Canada Atlantic Regional Driving Championship at Red Shores Charlottetown with a 6:30 p.m. start time. Red Shores Summerside races Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. with the P.E.I. Colt Stakes for two and three-year-old trotters and two-year-old pacers.
To view the results from Thursday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Thursday Results - Charlottetown Driving Park.
(With files from Red Shores)