Nick Boyd equalled the record for the most wins by a driver in a single night at Kawartha Downs as he steered six horses to victory lane on the 10-race card on Saturday, Aug. 9.
Boyd rattled off five consecutive wins to begin his evening, starting in the second race with Wicked Words ($2.60), who went wire-to-wire in 1:56.3. He gave Vicious Aloicious ($3.40) a pocket trip in the third race, and the gelding out-sprinted pacesetter Bet On Brett (Carter Gimblett) to win in 1:55.2. Walkonthemoon ($2.70) went three-wide on the backstretch in the fourth race and motored home to a 1:58 victory, the second of Boyd's three wins behind Amanda Riley-trained horses.
The reinsman kept the streak alive through a chaotic fifth race despite breaking on the final turn — and crossing the line second. He got Magical Bet ($3.20) to the front from post nine in the first quarter and led into the final turn where the gelding went off stride, recovering quickly but ceding control to D A Cinnamoncrunch (Doug Brown) and ending up three-wide as Shanes Dream (Ed Peconi) split between horses as they straightened for home. Shanes Dream paced home quickest and reached the wire first with Magical Bet re-rallying for second — which proved to be crucial, as Shanes Dream was disqualified to eighth for interference before the half. Magical Bet was promoted to the victory with a clocking of 1:55.
Boyd then won the sixth race with Codys Moment ($9.50) in a pocket-tripping victory in 1:54.4 before his first defeat of the night in the seventh race. He returned to the winner’s circle in the eighth race, completing the Boyd-Riley triple with Settn A Precedent ($2.10) in 1:53.1. Going into the ninth race, Boyd had a chance to win a record-breaking seventh race at the track with the favoured Danish Brew, but the mare broke stride before the start and was a distant seventh. The driver finished in a dead heat for third in the finale.
Boyd nearly doubled his lead in the drivers’ standings with Saturday’s performance, putting him 11 wins up over Reg Gassien. The two-time Kawartha champ is aiming to retake his title after three seasons and now has a considerable cushion with six cards to go. He is winning at a 19.5 per cent rate across all tracks this season with 34 wins in 174 drives.
With her triple on the card, Riley took a commanding nine-win lead in the trainers’ leaderboard. The Roseneath, Ont.-based conditioner, now in her third season, has won 43 races overall in 2025 and is winning at a 17.8 per cent clip. She went three-for-four on the card with a third-place finish from Bozak her one loss.
To view Saturday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Kawartha Downs.
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Nick Boyd winning with Villefranche As at Kawartha on July 5, 2025)