Action-packed weekend upcoming in PEI

CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – Making his first start in a new stable, Day Delight will take on the featured event Saturday evening at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.

The 15-dash Saturday card kicks off at 6 P.M. featuring the Harness The Hope fundraiser all evening.

Race 14 has the featured pace of the night with Day Delight leaving from post 1 in the $3,050 class with Brodie MacPhee in the seat for trainer Tom Weatherbie and owners Wayne MacRae of Nova Scotia, Howmac Farms Ltd., of North Wiltshire and Lloyd Stone and Victor Puddy of Ontario. The four-year-old son of Bettors Delight last raced in the $25,000 Governor’s Plate final where he was caught out the duration of the mile, with him winning the two starts previous to that.

Cowboy Logic is marked as the morning line favourite from post 4 for driver Steven Shepherd and new trainer Earl Watts. Power Of A Cruiser (To be driven by Myles Heffernan Sr.) has been a part of the triactor every week and has post 2 in Saturday’s bout.

Peter MacPhee puts Day Delight on top of the Post Time Picks. “Day Delight has raced well since arriving on PEI and gets to avoid the bearcats tonight. We’re betting Brodie will be firing off the wings and if they do set up shop on the front end could go wire to wire.”

Race 6 of the night is the first leg of the Island Oceans Trot Classic presented by JD Marine and Diving Inc., with a field of five trot mares. Cheeky Little Minx is the morning line favourite from post 5 for trainer-driver Gilles Barrieau and owners Howmac Farms Ltd., and Wayne MacRae. The daughter of Lucky Chucky won her last start in 1:57.3 at the open level in Charlottetown. Also in that field are Sailor Blue (Ken Murphy), Daisy River (Jason Hughes), Go With Her (Brodie MacPhee) and YS Suzanne (Walter Cheverie).

The preferred 1 pace lines up in race 8 for a $3,400 purse with Avatar J (David Dowling) the top choice from post 3 over Rose Run Quest (Cheverie) and Mc Pat (Barrieau).

Elsewhere during the weekend, the very finest young trotters and pacers on Canada’s Eastern Seaboard will come to Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway for the first leg of a revamped P.E.I. Colt Stakes on Sunday afternoon.

The 15-dash Sunday presentation starts at 1 P.M. featuring the P.E.I. Colt Stakes for two-year-old pacers and two and three-year-old trotters.

The action starts off in race 1 with a $12,000 Gold division for two-year-old pacing fillies as Boo Yaya looks for her third straight win for driver Marc Campbell, trainer Robert MacLeod and owners Hugh MacEachern of Inverness and Ali MacEachern of Truro Nova Scotia. The 1:57.2 winning daughter of Stonebridge Terror was bred on P.E.I. by Wade Peconi of Stanchel.

The other $12,000 Filly Gold division lines up in race 9 as Woodmere Jazz will put her perfect record to the test with Gilles Barrieau at the controls for trainer Kevin MacLean and owner Reg MacPherson of Stratford. The Rollwithitharry filly comes from Bruce Wood’s Woodmere Farms of Marshfield.

A trio of $6,000 grassroots divisions of the P.E.I. Colt Stakes for two-year-old fillies line up in races 3, 11 and 14.

The first $12,200 Gold division for rookie colt pacers is in race 7 with the impeccable Fern Hill General heavily favoured from post 4 for the team of driver Brodie MacPhee and trainer Earl Smith for owners Peter Smith of Stratford and Gerald Morrissey of Vernon River. A winner in 1:55.1 his last start at Truro Raceway, the son of Malicious was bred by Brian MacLeod of Truro, N.S.

St Charles Fireball is top choice in the other $12,200 Gold colt division in race 13 for trainer-driver Campbell and owners Ryan and Everett MacLeod of Souris after finishing second to Fern Hill General his last start. Jamie MacKinley of Cornwall raised the son of Tobago Cays.

The P.E.I. Colt Stakes Grassroots divisions hit the track in races 5, 8 and 15 carrying $6,000 purses in each.

The P.E.I Colt Stakes will also be split by sex on the trot side with $7,000 two-year-old colt trot divisions in races 2 and 6 and a $7,000 freshman filly trot in race 4.

The top three-year-old colt trotters will again meet in race 10 with $9,200 at stake. Mr Finlay Ridge has the rail for trainer-driver Clare MacDonald while Dusty Lane Milo (To be driven by Adam Merner) has post 4 and A Little Go Go (Campbell) has post 5.

The three-year-old trotting fillies hit the track in race 12 in their $9,200 P.E.I. Colt Stakes division.

In addition, Red Shores and the Prince Edward Island Harness Racing Industry Association are pleased to update the Industry on the following racing protocols.

• An aggressive testing regime and adherence to biosecurity protocols have resulted in no further clinical cases of Strangles in the Standardbred horse population on Prince Edward Island. After close consultation with the veterinary professionals on the file, it has been decided that the requirement to have two negative nasopharyngeal cultures for the bacteria Streptococcus equi. sub species equi to compete/and or stable at both Red Shores properties will be discontinued effective immediately.
• As such, Red Shores will also be discontinuing the requirement for both On Island and Off Island trainers to submit an Equine Health Verification Form with their entry effective immediately.
• Trainers are reminded that by declaring a horse into race at either  Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park or Red Shores Summerside they are attesting that they have been closely monitoring  their horse’s health and confirm that all horses under their care that are entering the grounds to race and/or stable are healthy and are not exhibiting any signs of Strangles.
• Trainers and horse owners are encouraged to continue enhanced Bio Security measures in their barns and to continue to monitor their horse’s health by means of temperature checks, etc.
• Red Shores and the Prince Edward Island Harness Racing Industry Association will continue to monitor the situation closely at both facilities with the assistance of the veterinarians on the file.

For Charlottetown Saturday entries, click here.

For Summerside Sunday entries, click here.

by Nicholas Oakes, for Red Shores