Field Set For Des Smith

Rideau Carleton Raceway will roll out the red carpet for ten of North America’s finest, older pacers on Sunday evening in the 30th edition of the Des Smith

Classic Pace.

Back to defend his title is Anderlecht, who will start from Post 2 for driver Scott Coulter. The Igor Vrablic trainee captured last year’s edition in a time of 1:49.3 as a 17-1 outsider.

The morning line odds maker has listed Art Professor (Jody Jamieson – Post 1) as the 2-1 favourite in the 10-horse tilt. The Ben Wallace-trained son of Art Major was a best-of-the-rest runner-up in Western Fair Raceway’s marquee event, the $300,000 Molson Pace, on May 27. That performance lifted the pacer’s bankroll over $400,000.

Lisagain (Sylvain Filion – 5-2) is the second choice in the morning line for trainer Erv Miller, who watched the gritty gelding finish second in the $125,000 Spring Pacing Championship earlier this year at Woodbine Racetrack. The son of Dragon Again is the half-brother to the 2006 Des Smith winner, Lis Mara.

The Des Smith Classic Pace has been carded as Race 13, which has a scheduled post time of 10:27 p.m. The 15-race card will get underway this Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m.

Here’s the field for this year’s edition:

$177,750 Des Smith Classic Pace
1. Art Professor
2. Anderlecht
3. Lisagain
4. Alexie Mattosie ($10,000 supplement)
5. Straight Shooting
6. Dalhousie Dave
7. Legal Litigator
8. Gotcha Covered
9. Outrageous Art
10. Lucky Man

To view entries for Sunday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Sunday Entries – Rideau Carleton Raceway.