The very best aged pacing mares on the Eastern Seaboard of Canada will lock bridles in the $15,517 Atlantic Aged Pacing Mares Series Final, presented by Standardbred Canada, Sunday afternoon at Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway.
Sodwana Bay gets top billing in the championship final that will cap off a mega-stakes card of 13 dashes Sunday afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. start time. Gilles Barrieau trains and drives Sodwana Bay for owners Howmac Farms Ltd., of North Wiltshire, P.E.I., and Wayne MacRae of Fall River, N.S. The five-year-old daughter of No Pan Intended has been exceptional all season in Atlantic Canada and comes into the race off a season’s best 1:54.4 victory at Red Shores Charlottetown.
Off a quadruple of top-two finishes, Collective Wisdom gets billed as second choice from post three, with Walter Cheverie getting the catch driving call for trainer Jackie Matheson. Third choice goes to post seven starter Prettyndangerous, who finished second in this race last year and gets the services of Marc Campbell in the bike for trainer Bo Ford.
Race analyst Les MacIsaac sides with Sodwana Bay to cap off her memorable first season in Atlantic Canada with a championship win.
“Sodwana Bay has been the dominant mare in the region since arriving here in early summer and still hasn’t been worse than second in all those starts,” MacIsaac said. “Other than the short price there is not much to dislike.”
In other Sunday afternoon action, the top trotters on the East coast will face off in Lady Slipper Memorial stakes action. The rookies trotters are in races two and five for $7,500 purses in each split while the sophomore trotters vie for $8,000 purses in races seven and nine.
Three-year-old pacers also take the scene on the program with a pair of $10,000 Joe O’Brien Memorial divisions for pacing colts in races eight and 11. Sock It Away will look to continue his undefeated season in race eight with rail control for driver Campbell, trainer Kevin MacLean and owner Reg MacPherson of Stratford, P.E.I. The son of Pang Shui has been perfect in all 13 starts so far in 2018.
The Lady Slipper stakes also has a pair of $12,000 gold divisions hitting the track in races 10 and 12.
The Garth Schurman Memorial will be presented in race three with rail sitter Kahula Morning listed as the morning line favourite for driver Jason Hughes and ownership team of Robi Hughes, Blair and Eric MacLauchlan.
For race programs and live video go to Redshores.ca. To view the entries for Sunday's card, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Summerside Raceway.
(with files from Red Shores)