Harness racing history was made on Friday, Aug. 30 in Woodstock, N.B., as Jackies Boy set a new track record for three-year-old pacers in the $50,000 Barrieau-McIsaac Memorial Stakes, the richest race ever contested at Connell Park.
A 1:56 sophomore track record performance in the stakes elimination last week by Jackies Boy served as just a preview of what was to come. Jackies Boy dropped the record to 1:54.4 with Myles Heffernan Sr. doing the driving for his son Myles Jr., who trains, owns and bred the Tobago Cays-Dusty Lane Bria gelding.
Taking advantage of the inside post his connections were able to select after winning the elimination, Jackies Boy shot through into the first turn to establish the lead, pocketing the leaving Merigo Magic and Adam Merner. Jackies Boy proceeded to set fractions of :28.1, :57.2 and 1:26.2 before sealing the deal with a :28.2 final frame to finish 2-1/4 lengths ahead of Merigo Magic, with the 1-2 favourite, Tobins Chester, rallying three-wide off cover to finish third for Jason Hughes after seeing his win streak snapped in a neck defeat last week.
Jackies Boy, who is now four-for-10 in his sophomore season, sports a career record reading 11-4-2 from 20 starts with $125,477 banked in purse earnings.
He paid $3.80 to win as the 4-5 second choice.
Press Time ($6.50) capped off the Friday action with the fastest mile of the evening in the $2,500 Winners Over Pace, as the seven-year-old gelded son of Sportswriter toured the Woodstock oval in 1:54.1 in his provincial debut with Hughes driving for trainer Averil Hunter and local owner Zachary Cougle. Mantario was the best of the rest, finishing 3-1/4 lengths behind for Merner, with the rest of the six-horse field more than 17 lengths in arrears.
Daniel Hebert celebrated his first training victory in the opener with three-year-old pacing filly JP In Paradise ($4.60) scoring a maiden-breaking victory herself in 2:02.1. The 49-year-old St-Lucien, Que. horseman earned the milestone win with the filly he co-owns with Anne-Sophie Hebert. Last off the gate, the daughter of Betterthancheddar picked off rivals during the first lap and led the rest of the way in rein to Nancy Gouin. The win came in Hebert's seventh training start this year and following 27 starts two decades ago.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodstock Raceway NB.
(Standardbred Canada)