A familiar face to the fans at Fraser Downs for the track's biggest harness racing card of the year is once again making an appearance and looking to make an impact.
Doug McNair, winner of the 2017 O'Brien Award as Canada's Driver of the Year and, more recently, 2018 National Driving Champion will fly out to British Columbia on Sunday morning for drives on BC Breeders Classic Day, this Sunday (November 11).
McNair, who missed last year's event but captured stakes victories at Fraser Downs in 2014, 2015 and 2016, told Trot Insider that he's the 'hired gun' of horseman Jim Marino, who has eight horses entered in the lucrative stakes finals.
The first of four $100,000 finals on the Remembrance Day card is the Betty Millbank Memorial Breeders Stakes Final for two-year-old pacing fillies, slated as Race Four. McNair has picked up the drive on Mrs Suhwiggins, but the talented filly has drawn the outermost post eight in the nine-horse field. Not finishing worse than second in six seasonal starts with a record of 4-2-0, Mrs Suhwiggins would have likely been made the favourite had she not drawn post eight and had her main competition not drawn the rail. The Blue Yak (PP1, Serge Masse) was unbeaten in the four preliminary legs of the Millbank, and handed Mrs Suhwiggins her two seasonal defeats.
Stakes action continues in the sixth race with the $100,000 Robert Millbank Memorial Breeders Stakes Final for two-year-old pacing colts. McNair has picked up Marino-trained Bettor Cat, who swept the four legs of the Millbank and is listed at 6-5 on the morning line. Owned by Marino along with JJJ Stables, Bettor Cat drew the rail in Sunday's Millbank with stablemate and main rival stablemate Rockin N Talkin (Jim Marino, 4-1) saddled with post eight.
Sophomores take centre stage next in Fraser's eighth race with Scardy Cat seeking the Breeders Classic Day repeat. Victorious in the 2017 edition of the Betty Millbank, Scardy Cat comes into the 2018 final of the $100,000 Mary Murphy Breeders Stakes Final for three-year-old pacing fillies card in career form with back-to-back 1:53.3 wins in the most recent prelim legs. McNair has picked up the drive on the Debra McCarthy trainee, listed at 6-5 on the morning line from post two. Second choice at 3-1 is Custard Lite (PP5, Preston Shaw), the richest filly in the race and unbeaten in the three Murphy legs she entered.
Also seeking a second stakes score on BC Breeders Classic Day is Ron Bakardi. The winner of the 2017 Robert Millbank Memorial is favoured in the $100,000 Robert Murphy Memorial Breeders Stakes Final for three-year-old pacing colts. Another Jim Marino-trained and Doug McNair-driven entrant, Ron Bakardi is the 2-1 choice in the Robert Murphy and will leave from post three. Rail horse One Small Favour (PP1, Kevin Anderson) looms the danger, not missing the top three in his last five outings. He's at 7-2 on the morning line for the Robert Murphy, slated as Race 10.
First race post time for the BC Breeders Classic card is at 12:45 Pacific Time (3:45 ET). To view the entries for the card, click on one of the following links:
► Sunday Entries - Fraser Downs
► Sunday Program Pages - Fraser Downs (courtesy TrackIT).