It was the Gilles Barrieau show Wednesday night at Red Shores' Summerside. 'The Maritime Magic Man' stole the show in Summerside with a grand slam on the 14-dash, stakes-filled card.
His biggest win of the night came in race eight driving Jann Down to her fourth straight victory in an $11,700 Gold division of the Lady Slipper Stakes for two-year-old filly pacers. The daughter of Articulator cut out all the fractions of :30.3, 1:03 and 1:33.2, with a :28.1 closing kicker to stop the clock in 2:01.3. She is owned and bred by the Downey Stables and Stephen Mason does the training.
Barrieau also picked up a $5,800 Grassroots victory for the same connections with Ubettowin (2:01). In addition, he won a $6,900 Joe O'Brien Grassroots division with a catch-drive on Ross Melvino (1:59.2) and an overnight race with Bringhome Theblue.
In the second Gold division of the Lady Slipper, Dusty Lane Bria returned to her winning ways and halted Woodmere Dancenart's streak at three with in 1:59 wire-to-wire effort, which included a :28.3 final quarter. The daughter of Ameripan Gigolo is owned by Kenny Wilkie and Larry Chappell. Wilkie does the training and Kenny Arsenault did the driving.
Arsenault picked up his second win with Camco Titan in the $10,800 Gold division of the Joe O'Brien in 1:58.2. The son of Ameripan Gigolo is owned by Windemere Farms, Harris Johnston, John Howatt and Roger Burns. Earl Watts earned a training double with the victory -- he won a Lady Slipper Grassroots race with the Marc Campbell-driven Windemere Belle (2:02.4). Arsenault had a driving triple on the card, also winning an conditioned race with DBS Rosco.
The second Joe O'Brien Gold division was won by the two-year-old No Pan Intended colt Jack Reacher in 1:58.1. He is owned by the Lenny And Squiggy Stable while Cliff Murphy does the training and son Kenny handled the driving duties. The colt now has two lifetime victories from two starts.
Miss Oromocto is also two-for-two in her young career after winning a division of the Lady Slipper Grassroots in 2:02.1 on Wednesday. Brian MacPhee did the driving for co-owner and trainer Mel Land along with co-owner Sharon Burchill.
Silverhill Blaze (2:02.1), in line to trainer/driver Jason Hughes, picked up the victory in the last Joe O'Brien Grassroots division for owner Donald MacRae.
Flaming Prince posted the fastest mile of the night with a 1:56 score for driver Terry Gallant. It was Gallant’s second winner on the program after guiding OK Chivas to victory in race four.
Racing returns to Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park Thursday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 6 p.m. The National Driving Championship, featuring the Founder’s Cup Invitational, is Tuesday with a 7 p.m. post time. The action returns to Red Shores' Summerside next Wednesday night featuring the two and three-year-old trotters.
To view Wednesday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Wednesday Results - Summerside Raceway.
(With files from Red Shores)