Stakes star Duke Up has drawn the rail in the Saturday afternoon featured event at Red Shores' Charlottetown Driving Park.
First-race post time is 1:00 p.m. for the 13-dash card.
Dukes Up, a three-year-old colt owned by Reg MacPherson of Stratford and trained by Kevin MacLean, put in a dazzling performance in his last start winning the Island Breeders in an exciting stretch drive fashion in 1:56.1 with a :28.2 second closing quarter. The son of Fit For Life moves up to take on aged horses for this contest, but he has one of the hottest drivers in Marc Campbell along with rail control to give him somewhat of an edge. Campbell is only 11 wins away from tying his single-season win record.
The field is full of horses that could spoil the party though. Bet the House, trained by Blaine McKenna has eight wins this season while BJ Cruiser has been a model of consistency all season. Gary Chappell gets the driving assignment from Jean Belliveau of Dieppe, NB. Narragansett and Shock The Rock drew inside on the gate with Artners in Crime, Block Party and Lisfinny starting from the outside. The trailing position belongs to Pembroke Fella from the Don Sweet stable of O’Leary. He shows a winning chart line in 1:57.1 for Kenny Arsenault.
The Island has been seeing some new faces lately. The Black Pearl has won both starts since moving to the east coast for Corey MacPherson and Ron Gass. MacPherson will also drive newcomer Stress Buster from the Duane MacEachern Stable while Marry Me Maddie ships in from Bangor under the care of Stacey Lund.
(Red Shores)