Circling from sixth in the final eighth of a mile, PL Ozzy was missionized to the wire for a surging victory in Atlantic Lottery Gold Cup and Saucer Trial 3 on Monday (Aug. 14) evening at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
The $12,500 trial had a host of leavers with Bettim Again (Gilles Barrieau) firing hard at the start from post two to strike the lead and stack up Batterup Hanover (Paul Langille) and a three-wide Lawless Shadow (Tyler Moore) to a :27.1 opening quarter. Lawless Shadow found the front and hit the half in :54.4 then three-quarters in 1:23.2 while the field bunched up behind him to take their shot including first-over Major Hill (Marc Campbell) and a three-wide No Plan Intended (David Dowling). With just a furlong left to go, P L Ozzy was trapped in in sixth before driver Jason Hughes snuck out at the head of the stretch to demolish his competition and stop the clock in 1:51.4. Lawless Shadow finished second while Major Hill was third and will advance to the final.
“My nerves were just fair around the last turn,” Hughes chuckled. “The race didn’t pan out at all like I thought it would. I figured Tyler Moore would leave hard with Lawless Shadow and cross over and I could stick close to him. That plan went out the window right at the start. Barrieau was serious at the start and so was Paul Langille.”
Seeing what was unfolding, Hughes elected to take back to watch the front-end carnage with dreams of getting involved at the end of the mile.
“They were going three-wide going to three-quarters and I didn’t want to go four-wide so I said, ‘We’ll wait, take our chances and just try to make the final.’ Then getting around the last turn I got clear sailing and he blew through the lane.”
Danny MacDonald trains the winning pacer for owners Jody Sanderson, Darren Smith, Michael McKenna and Shaun MacIsaac.
“From the head of the stretch home [P L Ozzy] was flying,” said Hughes.
Hughes admits it was one of the fastest closing performances he has seen at Red Shores Charlottetown but it will be his last time sitting behind the pacer this week as he must drive his own trainee Bee Two Bee, who finished third in Trial 2, in Saturday’s $100,000 final.
“These guys invested the money and gave me the opportunity to drive him tonight. It’s great to see. I hope they do well [in the final].”
The top three finishers from Trial 3 will join Covered Bridge, American History, Bee Two Bee, Funathebeach N, Roll Em and Twin B Tuffenuff in the final. The Gold Cup and Saucer Ambassadors will select their horses and post positions during the Tuesday evening program at Red Shores Charlottetown after race four (approximately 8 p.m. AST).
The Monday program also featured a pair of $15,500 Atlantic Sires Stakes three-year-old pacing colt divisions won by Malignity (Langille) in 1:53.4 and No Boats On Sunday (Myles Heffernan Sr.) in 1:56.2.
Campbell and Dowling had driving triples on the program while Earl Watts had a training double.
To view Monday's harness racing results, click the following link: Monday Results - Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
(Red Shores)