Live harness racing returns to The Raceway at Western Fair District on Friday, Oct. 2 with a 12-race program featuring the Prospect Series finals for Ontario-sired three-year-olds beginning at 5:50 p.m.
The trotting fillies will kick off the stakes action with Prospect divisional point leader Silver Pride starting from the inside post in the first $25,000 final with driver Samuel Fillion. Jean-Francois Maguire trains the Alarm Detector-Hallywood Hills filly, who was a winner in five preliminary legs of the series and took the Trophee Des Eleveurs championship in mid-September for owner/breeder Silver Stables of Venise-En-Quebec, Que.
Fillion and Maguire will look for a sweep of the trotting titles with Super Green, who leads the colt and gelding division with three preliminary wins including the opening London leg back in May. The Green Manalishi S-Time After Time gelding, who will start in post two, is owned by his trainer in partnership with Jean Allaire of Montreal, Que., and G T Stables of St-Placide, Que.
The John Pentland-trained Amazing Addy leads the pacing filly division with three wins in the series. Austin Sorrie, the leading driver at The Raceway so far this year with 109 wins from January through May, will steer the daughter of Shadow Play out of Glass Maker from the outside post six for Pennsylvania owner Hutt Racing Stable.
The leading pacing colt is Over Bet with two wins in the preliminary rounds for trainer Josh McKibbin and owner Kim Smith of Ohsweken, Ont. The Bettors Delight-Sadayo Hanover colt will start from post three in his divisional final with Mark MacDonell driving.
Beginning on Friday, Oct. 2, the minimum wager on both daily Pick-3 pools will increase from 20 cents to $2. The late Pick-3 has also been reimagined and rebranded as “The Closer" with a $2,000 guaranteed pool every race night.
The Raceway's schedule through the end of the year includes live racing on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, with the exception of Tuesday, Nov. 24 and Friday, Dec. 25. There will also be racing on Thursday, Nov. 26 for American Thanksgiving as well as Wednesday, Dec. 23 for a special holiday program, Saturday, Dec. 26 for Boxing Day and Thursday, Dec. 31 for New Year's Eve. Post time will be 5:50 p.m. except for Dec. 26, which will have a 12:50 p.m. post time.
The Raceway will host the 21st edition of Harness the Hope on Friday, Oct. 16 and the seventh annual Drivers' Holiday Challenge on Tuesday, Dec. 8.
As previously announced, the 2026/27 meet will have one of the largest purse increases in recent years, with daily purses projected to average more than $100,000. The track’s two signature races in the new year, the Grade 3 Camluck Classic Invitational Pace and the newly minted So Much More Pace (formerly the Forest City Pace) for distaffers, will feature bolstered purses, bumping to $200,000 and $100,000, respectively.
To view Friday 's complete harness racing entries, click the following links: Friday Entries - Western Fair Raceway // Program Pages (courtesy TrackIT).
(Standardbred Canada)