P L Oliver and driver Lorne House were the stars of a 10-race card at Hiawatha Horse Park on Saturday, Aug. 15 as the former took the $6,600 Preferred Handicap Pace and the latter reached $10 million in career earnings.
Garrett Rooney had no designs on dropping in from post seven with P L Oliver, keeping the gelding out through a :27 quarter and working vigorously to get him to the lead in front of the stands. P L Oliver reached the half in :55.4 and came under renewed encouragement from the reinsman while racing to three-quarters in 1:24.1 with Mels Legacy (Nick Steward) looming on his helmet. Mels Legacy fired out as they swung for home but came up empty as P L Oliver produced a solid finish to win by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:53. Macapelo Seelster (House) finished third.
P L Oliver’s victory was his second of the year in 15 starts, coming after place finishes in two starts last week at Grand River Raceway. Lindsey Kerr trains the eight-year-old son of Sportswriter-P L Gotcha for Sally Charlton of Tecumseh, Ont. and Ashley Kerr of London, Ont. P L Oliver is 32-for-179 lifetime with $344,830 in earnings. He paid $4.80 to win.
House entered the card less than $12,000 away from reaching eight figures and earned cheques in all but one of his 10 drives on the night, including three victories. He surpassed $10 million in the finale as he rallied 10-1 shot Beach Cruiser three-to-four wide from eighth down the backstretch and finished second, getting a $1,325 cheque to finish the night on $10,000,617.
House has also compiled 1,518 wins in his 14,429 starts in a driving career that began in 2001. The Ingersoll, Ont. native has scaled up his stats in recent years, setting a new high in earnings last year with $970,380 and winning 138 times, his third-best total on record. He leads the standings at Sarnia this season with 28 victories, five more than second-placed Garrett Rooney.
To view Saturday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results - Hiawatha Horse Park.
(Standardbred Canada; photo of P L Oliver winning on Jan. 14, 2025)