New Brunswick Day can be celebrated in style, with the first of three harness racing programs during Old Home Week in Woodstock, NB
. A 12-dash card will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon with other race events scheduled for Wednesday and Friday evenings at 7 p.m. The Friday card will feature the Robert (Bob) McCain Memorial Pace, the jewel of Old Home Week action.
"We had our first event of our 2009 season in mid-June, but besides the rainy conditions and bad weather everything went as planned," Andy Sutherland, who guides the Woodstock Driving Club and is co-organizing this year's quartet of events at the raceway, told the Bugle-Observer. "We're hoping next week's cards will continue to build on what we are working on. We had one event in 2008, and we will have four this season, so we're hoping harness racing fans will continue to be encouraged to come out and cheer on the talented drivers and horses who come to Woodstock and what we are trying to do to re-build the sport in the town."
Monday’s program features four divisions of the Atlantic Sires Stakes for two and three-year-old trotters. Each race goes for a purse of approximately $12,000. The Erwin Andrew Memorial for Open Mares goes in Race 10, while Vic Victor will try for another victory in the top class, which is listed as Race 11.
Trained by Eric Wilson, Vic Victor is fresh off an impressive win at Saint John’s Exhibition Park Raceway in 1:59.1 on Sunday. There will not be racing this Sunday in Saint John, with horses required for the big week at Connell Park in Woodstock. Regular pilot, Lonny Stokes will be in Vic Victor’s sulky. Other contenders in the top class include Pipe Major (Sam Hodgin), Igoddago (Mike Campbell), Pitbull Hanover (Mike Stevenson), and J Gs Hangman (Clare MacDonald).
Walter Dale Memorial winner, All Star Dragon is a likely starter on the program one week from today. He achieved his third win in five starts this season last night at Fredericton Raceway in 1:58.1. The race represented one of four winners on the card for driver Stephen Trites, who leads the Fredericton standings with 21 victories, eight more than his younger brother, Todd. Todd was competing in the Atlantic Sires Stakes at Truro Raceway, where he finished fourth with Bob MacNeil’s Elm Grove Emerson.
Grand Circuit Week racing in Truro wraps up tomorrow night, with Todd Trites guiding P H Tornado in the $7,500 Exhibition Cup Invitational. Others to watch in the final race on a 13-dash card include: Astronomical (Ken Arsenault), Abby Best (Clare MacDonald), Porthill Alf (Mike Stevenson), and Outlawpositvcharg (Terry Gallant). Outlawpositivcharg is hoping for another win, following a decisive score last weekend against solid competition at Cape Breton’s Northside Downs.
(With files from HRNB and the Bugle-Observer)