CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – Everyone is treating Silverhill Shadow as the one to beat in the Thursday night harness racing feature at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
First race post time is 7 pm for the 12-dash card that features a field of eight pacers battling in the race 11 feature. Silverhill Shadow has post 5 in the $2,100 affair for trainer-driver Terry Gallant and owner Silverhill of Tignish. The four-year-old son of Shadow Play was an impressive 1:56 winner in his latest outing after making an equipment break on Oct. 11, and being scratched as the Thursday night feature favorite on Oct. 1. Race analyst Les McIsaac agrees with the Red Shores race office's selection of Silverhill Shadow as the morning line favourite.
"He left a pretty good field in the dust last week after that near disaster the previous start," McIsaac said. "Steps up slightly but he's been here before and if he's able to secure the lead again it could be all over."
Oh To Be Me is a major factor from post 7 with trainer-driver-owner Gary Chappell, fresh off a 1:55.4 third place finish in the preferred pace, along with the ultra consistent Van Zant, who has missed just two cheques from 25 starts in 2015, with Ron Matheson in the bike. Other entries include Perfect Escape (Marc Campbell), Cambest Kisser (Jason Hughes), J Rs Hurricane (Ken Murphy), Mcjestic (Walter Cheverie) and Cheyenne Ford (Kenny Arsenault).
The back-up pace goes to post in race 7 with the renewal of the weekly rivalry between Lyndale Royal and Sinners In Heaven. Sinners In Heaven (Chappell) has post 5 in the $1,700 event while Lyndale Royal (Campbell) rides his four-race win streak from post 6.
The evening trot class lines up in race 4 for a $1,750 purse with Frill Seeker the morning line choice for trainer-driver Arsenault and owner Ebbsfleet Stables of Stratford, Ont. The seven-year-old son of Angus Hall leaves from post 5 in the seven-horse-field.
By Nicholas Oakes for Red Shores