The rail starting spot proved to give Fern Hill General a tactical advantage over his rivals en route to victory in the 2022 edition of the Barrieau-McIsaac Stake on Saturday (July 9) at Exhibition Park Raceway.
Driver Brodie MacPhee gave Fern Hill General ($5.80) his marching orders early on in the $41,470 affair and left aggressively off the car to take command of the tilt. Fellow elim winner Fern Hill Gusto (Marc Campbell) cinched up a gap in the pocket to force Alldawaytocardigan (Myles Heffernan) back into the three spot through a sharp :28.1 opening quarter. Heffernan right-lined Alldawaytocardigan heading to the half as the backfield started to get serious about their intentions.
Fern Hill General soldiered on through middle panels of :58.2 and 1:28.1, all the while Alldawaytocardigan pestered the pacesetter from the advancing position. As the field turned for home, victory would not be denied for Fern Hill General as the sophomore repelled all challengers to hit the wire first in a time of 1:57.2. Alldawaytocardigan stayed for second, while Soul Assassin (David Dowling) recovered from an early miscue to nose out Fern Hill Gusto for show.
Fern Hill General (Malicious - Noble Ellen) continues to hit the targets set in front of him by trainer Earl Smith for owners Peter Smith and Gerald Morrissey of P.E.I. Now with a 4-2-3 summary from nine seasonal starts, the win lifted his lifetime summary to 10-3-4 in 20 starts with $75,163 in earnings.
In the Winners Over weekly feature, Privilege ($5.20) laid the smack down on his New Brunswick rivals for the second straight week. After winning by nearly eight lengths last week, the recent Atlantic Canadian import was a double-digit winner this week by virtue of a 1:57.1 drubbing of the local top class. Todd Trites teamed up with trainer George Rennison once again for owners Aiden Ferrish of Summerside, P.E.I. and All For Fun Stable of Truro, N.S.
Six-year-old Privilege (Sunshine Beach - My American Tallia) now sports 19 wins from 81 career starts, and is two-for-three since moving to the Maritimes.
Live harness racing in New Brunswick takes a break until August 5 with a Friday night race date at Woodstock's Connell Park. Exhibition Park's next race date is Saturday, Sept. 3.
For full results from Saturday's card, click the following link: Saturday Results - Exhibition Park Raceway.