Pillage And Burn has not been spotted out of the top two places in months and will attempt to keep his miraculous feat moving forward on a special Tuesday evening (Dec. 22) card of racing at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
The 10-dash Tuesday card has a 6 p.m. (EST) opening post time with the featured pace lining up in Race 9 of the evening for a $2,300 purse. Pillage And Burn has been one-two in all of his outings since Sept. 26 and the Trevor Hicken trained pacer receives the honour of morning line favourite in Tuesday’s top event. Ken Murphy will steer the nine-year-old son of Cams Card Shark for owner Perry Burke of Grosse-Ile., Quebec.
Known to take the front no matter where he leaves on the starting gate, Pillage And Burn has post 5 in Tuesday’s contest. Young Drunk Punk moves into the Ron Gass stable for this start as the son of Bettors Delight ships in from Nova Scotia’s Truro Raceway where he was facing the top class. Adam Merner will drive the 17-time winner from post 1 on Tuesday. Sports Royalty has been enjoying a breakout season in 2020 for trainer Wendy MacRae, as the son of Sportswriter has visited the winner’s circle seven times this year and will retain the driving services of Gilles Barrieau from post 3.
Peter MacPhee with the Post Time Picks pegs Pillage And Burn in the top spot.
“Pillage And Burn may be the sharpest horse in the Maritimes right now and has been first or second in his last nine starts,” MacPhee said. “We think Kenny will be aiming for the front again and if they do clear could get win number ten on the season.”
Also in the featured field are Painted Pony (To be driven by Marc Campbell), Creepin (David Dowling), and Winter Blast (Jason Hughes).
Race 5 is the evening trot class with $2,050 at stake. Labero is the top choice from post 4 in the compact field of five. Barrieau drives the Kadabra gelding for trainer Randy Van Meer of Mount Herbert.
Race 3 of the evening has a solid group of pacing mares including Howmacrivercruiser, who provided her co-owner and trainer Brad Smith with a thrilling return to victory her last start. Smith was in the race bike for the Articulator’s mare’s 2:00.4 score and must contend with post 8 to find their way there again Tuesday. Formerly one of the bright young talents in Island racing, Smith’s last driving win was in January of 2015 before he took a hiatus from racing.
(Red Shores)
To view Tuesday's harness racing entries, click on the following link: Tuesday Entries - Georgian Downs.