Ill Stay Here and Akoya captured Sunday evening’s co-featured events at Rideau Carleton Raceway, and they did so as mild upsetters.
A two-hole trip was all the edge needed by Ill Stay Here to post a 1:58 win in the $6,950 Not Listed Preferred Trot. The four-year-old daughter of Pilgrims Taj-Short Vacation battled with Raising Richard to the quarter pole in :28.2 before releasing that foe to the front. Raising Richard went on to whack out middle panels of :58.3 and 1:28 before coming under pressure once again from Ill Stay Here. The pocket sitter’s :29.4 closing speed was enough to prevail by a neck over Raising Richard, with Caroluzzo taking home the show dough in the nine-horse affair.
Trainer/driver Stephane Lareau manufactured the winning trip for the mare, who is owned by Jacques Rousson of Kemptville, Ont. It was the sixth win of the year and the 16th to date for the career winner of $107,032.
Akoya turned in a powerful performance to win the $6,800 Not Listed Preferred for pacers in an eye-catching clocking of 1:52.3 for driver Louis Philippe Roy. The gelding marched to the lead from Post 4, and after parking past the quarter pole in :26.4 he stepped through middle panels of :55 and 1:23.3. A :29-second final frame earned him the win by 4-1/2 lengths over The Love Bug, with race favourite Meersburg settling for third prize.
Trained and owned by Elisabeth Pothier of Beloeil, QC, the six-year-old son of Electric Stena-Pearl Sweet Noc racked up his fourth trip to victory lane this season while pushing his lifetime win total to 17. He’s banked in excess of $70,000 along the way.
Roy, 26, won half the card with six wins in 12 races (10 races to be accurate as he sat out the first and the fifth). He started his tear in Race 4 with Big Ricky ($3.10) before reeling off four straight in Races 6-9 and concluding his night on a high note with a score in the nightcap aboard Makes Me Stupid ($6.10).
After a 58-win season in 2015, Louis Philippe Roy has exploded for 155 tallies thus far in 2016.
To view results for Sunday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Sunday Results – Rideau Carleton Raceway.