Officials from Red Shores have sent out the organization’s preview for the weekend of live harness racing at the Charlottetown Driving Park and Summerside Raceway.
The top horses in Maritime harness racing will face off in eliminations of the Maritime Breeders and Cecil Ladner Memorial Pacing Series Saturday night at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park. First-race post time for the 13-dash program is 6 p.m.
The card features two $3,000 eliminations of the Maritime Breeders for three-year-old pacing fillies in Races 6 and 9. Race 6 will be a showdown between freshly-minted Truro track record holder Lovineveryminute (to be driven by Todd Trites) and divisional leader Elm Grove Inarush (Mark Bradley). Race 9 has Saulsbrook Alana (Marc Campbell) starting from the rail in a division that includes Charlottes Style (Kenny Arsenault) and Pictonian Sareta (Mike Stevenson). The top four from each elimination advance to next week’s final.
The three-year-old colt pacers will go postward in Races 8 and 11 with the top four in each division making it to next week’s Maritime Breeders colts and gelding finals. The top two colts of the 2014 season will square off in Race 8 with Dumas Walker (Myles Heffernan) and Super S Yzerman (Clare MacDonald). Both colts were victorious in divisions of the Bob Dewar two weeks ago at Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway. Race 11 will see 2013 Island Breeders champion Settlement Request (Gilles Barrieau) fend off a field of seven rivals including Wishes In The Rain (Darren Crowe) and Mr Vaive (Bernard McCallum).
The Cecil Ladner Memorial pacing series elimination dashes have been carded as Race 10 and 12. The first $2,400 elimination has Maine invader Coral Snake (Crowe) from Post 2. Other entries include PC Shockwave (Brian MacPhee), R Sonoflife (Todd Trites), Narragansett (Jason Hughes), Likely To Win (Ryan Ellis), Sterling Seelster (Campbell), Schooner (Barrieau) and Machinthesand (Brodie MacPhee).
Race 12 has another Maine entrant owned by MacDonald in Art Of Illusion from Post 8. The pacer has minted his status as one of the top pacers in Maine after a 1:53.2 victory last week in the free-for-all at Scarborough Downs. He will have to fend off All Turain from Post 7, who is undefeated since teaming up with Brodie MacPhee 10 starts ago; and Astor for trainer-driver Hughes, fresh off a 1:56.4 victory in his P.E.I. debut. Other entries include Blissful Bro (Campbell), Touch Of Lightning (Earl Smith), Perfect Escape (Barrieau), Hail The Taxi (Trites) and Judge Jon (Stevenson). The top four from each elimination advance to next week’s $8,200 final, while the next four will race off in the $3,000 consolation.
To view the harness racing entries for Saturday at the CDP, click the following link: Saturday Entries – Charlottetown Driving Park.
A $1,900 feature pace will highlight the Sunday afternoon card at Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway. First-race post time for the 13-dash card is 1 p.m.
The Race 12 feature has Ultimate Luck installed as the morning line favourite for driver Arsenault, trainer Sifroi Melason and owner Ultimate Stables of New Brunswick. The six-year-old son of Camluck has a tough field of opponents including Onehotvett (Barrieau), Outside The Wire (Brodie MacPhee), McMaverick (Ken Murphy), Eagle Jolt (Campbell), Upfront Ticket (Hughes), Lucky Encounter (Norris Rogers) and Shipps Xcalibur (Gary Chappell).
The card also features the $1,850 Open Trot, which features newcomer Presto Pegasus, who is picked to win off a two-race win streak in Charlottetown. The nine-year-old Pegasus Spur gelding is driven by Mark Bradley for trainer Brian Andrew and owners Rachel Andrew of Milton and William Andrew of Calgary. His main competition will come from Zip The Lip (Brian MacPhee), Abundaspin (Harold Shepherd) and Caliban Hanover (Ron Gass). The field also includes Lyrical Lindy (Hughes) and Honeymoonisover (Brian Andrew).
To view the harness racing entries for Sunday at Summerside, click the following link: Sunday Entries – Summerside Raceway.
(With files from Red Shores)