The horse that completed the triactor in the Guardian Gold Cup and Saucer will face off with the Roach MacGregor champion Saturday evening (Sept. 1) at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at Charlottetown Driving Park. The rivalry between Rose Run Quest and Czar Seelster will headline the 13-dash card with a 6 p.m. first post.
The $2,650 Preferred Pace hits the track in race 12 with Rose Run Quest leaving from post 6 as the morning-line favourite. Marc Campbell trains and drives the son of If I Can Dream for owner Blair Hansen. The pacer jumped up for a third-place finish in the $60,000 Gold Cup and Saucer final in Charlottetown, pacing a mile in 1:51.2.
With the inside post advantage is the $20,000 James “Roach” MacGregor Gold Cup and Saucer consolation winner, Czar Seelster. Kenny Arsenault is back in the bike behind the Stonebridge Regal pacer for trainer Todd Weatherbee and owner Tammy Johnston. The Governor’s Plate champion gets the respect of race analyst Les MacIsaac, who thinks the can overpower his top-class foes.
“Czar Seelster has been in almost every invitational the Maritimes has had to offer this year, and missed the top three twice from seventeen tries,” MacIsaac said. “It is a remarkable accomplishment given the calibre of his opposition and many less than ideal posts. The great spot he gets to work from this time around makes him the one to knock off.”
Also in the top-notch field are Winter Blast (Jason Hughes), Keep Coming (David Dowling), Fast N Victorious (Adam Merner), Tobinator (Corey MacPherson), Nabber Again (Mike McGuigan) and Euchred (Gilles Barrieau).
Nine straight top-two finishes is no small feat, but that’s the record Sodwana Bay brings to the 10th-race Fillies and Mares Open Pace. Leaving from post 6, the Barrieau-trained and driven pacing mare has only tasted defeat twice on the East Coast, both by less than a length. Sodwana Bay is owned by Wayne MacRaeand Howmac Farms Ltd. Nikes Cowgirl was a runner-up in this class last week and gets post 5 for trainer-driver Campbell, while Shadows Mystery is also billed as a top entrant with rail control for Adam Merner.
Slide Guitar Top Pick Labour Day In Summerside
A full field of eight will contest the featured event on a special Labour Day Holiday card Monday afternoon (Sept. 3) at Red Shores at Summerside Raceway.
The 13-dash card gets underway at 1 p.m. with Slide Guitar getting top billing in the 12th-race featured pace for a $2,000 purse.
David Dowling trains and drives the four-year-old son of Brandons Cowboy for co-owner Brittany Watts. A four-time winner this season, Slide Guitar shows three straight trips in 1:56 and change, including a new lifetime mark of 1:56.2 in Summerside. Revenant was a sharp winner in 1:56.1 in his latest outing, but must overcome post 7 for driver Adam Merner and trainer Melissa Rennie. From post 3 is Rockin Indy who has rounded into form his last two starts for trainer Troy Murray with Corey MacPherson back in the race bike.
Also in the field are Pictonian Storm (Austin Sorrie), Dividend Day (Ken Murphy), White Fish Flash (Norris Rogers), Heart And Soul (Walter Cheverie) and Jeb (Jason Hughes).
A power-packed field of five will contest the Preferred 2 Pace, carded as race nine on the program. Red Magician has been hot the past two months with trips in 1:54 and 1:55 straight down his program for the combination of driver Merner and trainer Rennie, with Dale and Ronnie Rennie holding the ownership papers. The chestnut son of Badlands Hanover is saddled with post 5 this week as he collides with another hot horse, Machinthesand (Murphy), leaving from post 2. The field is rounded out by Cartoon Daddy (Dale Spence), Old Buck (Hughes) and Salmonier Storm (Ambyr Campbell).
The $100,000 Dash For Cash is up for grabs all weekend, where any patron spending $10 or more on a single wager receiving a chance to win the jackpot. For complete contest details go to www.redshores.ca.
(Red Shores)