The Saturday (Sept. 25) card of harness racing at Northside Downs featured stakes action on the trot and pace, with Nova Scotia Stakes on the trot in non-betting events and the best two-year-old fillies in the Atlantic Sires Stakes on the pace.
Woodmere Jazz came into Saturday's contest without missing the board in eight career starts, and the rookie kept that perfect on-the-board record intact with a strong performance in the first $9,060 Atlantic Sires Stakes (AtSS) A division for two-year-old pacing fillies.
Being handled for the first time by driver Redmond Doucet, Woodmere Jazz bolted from the outside post after the wings of the gate folded and landed on the lead ahead of her trio of rivals. The opening quarter was reached in a sharp :28.2, and Doucet was able to soften that tempo with a middle half of 1:01.4 after midway fractions of :59.3 and 1:30.1. Boo Yaya (Marc Campbell) applied pressure to the pacesetter around that far turn but Woodmere Jazz had enough left in the tank to hold on for a half-length victory in 1:59.1. Boo Yaya and Saltwater Storm (Brodie MacPhee) rounded out the top three.
Trained by Kevin MacLean for Reg MacPherson of Stratford, P.E.I., Woodmere Jazz now sports a record of 4-1-4 from nine starts along with $27,475 in earnings.
JJ Scarlett was bet down to 1/9 in her $9,060 AtSS A division and she delivered like a 1/9 shot should. After having her five-race win streak snapped last time out, she started her next win streak with a dominant effort for driver Danny Gillis and trainer Walter Walker. After opening up an eight-length lead at the three-quarters through fractions of :30.4, 1:02.1 and 1:30.4, Gillis placed the filly on cruise control and she paced home in :28.4 to win by more than four in 1:59.3 over Mystical Gal (Mark Pezzarello) and West River Glo (Clare MacDonald).
Wwggmacinnismackinnon Stable of Inverness, N.S. holds the papers on JJ Scarlett (Tobago Cays - J J Hanna Dawn), now a six-time winner with more than $38,000 earned from her nine outings.
Before the pari-mutuel card, a pair of Nova Scotia Stakes events as non-betting races. Both trotting dashes were captured by trainees of Clare MacDonald.
Riley Farms' Up Helly AA (Ken MacDonald) capitalized on a break in stride by temposetter Defriended (Myles Heffernan) at the five-eighths mark to the $4,344 Nova Scotia Stake for two-year-old trotters in 2:07.1. Defriended — the only other horse in the race — recovered well to finish second by three-parts of a length.
Up Helly AA (Armbro Barrister - Burnt With Finesse) boasts a solid $32,430 from his eight seasonal starts, winning his last seven straight.
Clare completed the trotting stakes sweep by guiding Mr Finlay Ridge to victory in the $4,889 Nova Scotia Stake for three-year-old trotters, a wire-to-wire win under wraps in 2:00.2 over A Little Go Go (Marc Campbell).
MacDonald also co-owns the son of Armbro Barrister - R Rocket Rachel with Arnold Rankin and Ian Tate. In two seasons of activity, Mr Finlay Ridge sports a record of 12-3-2 from 18 starts with nearly $68,000 in earnings.
Johnnie Jack picked up his third straight score by capturing the $1,600 Winners Over Pace, winning for the second straight week by a half length over Southwind Ricardo. Ryan Campbell once again engineered the victory for trainer/owner Travis Campbell, hitting the wire in 1:57.2 for his seventh seasonal tally.
To view the results from the Saturday cards at Northside Downs, click the following link: Saturday Results - Northside Downs.