Can Bugsy Malone knock off top pacers

SUMMERSIDE, PE – Sporting a perfect string of one-two finishes Bugsy Maguire will attempt to knock off an exceptional field of harness racing horses in the Friday evening feature at Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway.

The Prince County oval has a 10-dash card lined up for a 6 P.M. Friday start time. Bugsy Maguire is the morning line favourite in the race 9 feature sporting a $3,200 purse with Myles Heffernan Sr., getting the catch driving call for trainer Wade Sorrie and owner Walter Simmons of Summerside.

The son of Bettor’s Delight has an equal trio of first and second place finishes from his six seasonal starts and will start from post 5 on Friday evening. Moonwriter (To be driven by David Dowling) is second choice in the field with post 7 after winning this class twice already in 2021. Perennial top Western P.E.I., pacer Heart And Soul (Ken Murphy) leaves from post 2 in his third start of the campaign.

The Backstretch Beat in Friday’s program has Bugsy Maguire pegged for the win spot in the feature.

“There are literally dozens of scenarios of how this one will play out with such an incredibly talented field of horses. The most likely one is that the classy veteran Bugsy Maguire finds his way to the lead and never looks back. We’ll play our hunch on that going down.”

Also in the ultra-competitive feature field are Pictonian Storm (Marc Campbell), Soccer Hanover (Mark Bradley), Chocolate Swirl (Jason Hughes), Screen Test (Corey MacPherson) and Hunger Pangs (Gilles Barrieau).

The $2,400 back-up pace lines up in race 7 with Creepin picked to win from post 5 for trainer-driver Dowling and owners Alex Quinn of York, Carl Peterson of Hunter River and Brittany Watts of Springvale. The son of Mach Three was involved in a front-end duel his last start and hung on for second. Other top entries are Winter Blast (Hughes) and Mantario (Barrieau).

In accordance with Public Health Guidelines, customers can come see the action live at Red Shores Summerside with no reservation on a first come first serve basis with limited capacity. To reserve a table for race night dining at West End Bar and Grill call the reservation line at 1-902-888-5666.

On track wagering opens at 12 Noon Friday at Red Shores. Race Day broadcast is available at redshores.ca. HPI-PEI promotion continues at hpibet.com.

by Nicholas Oakes, for Red Shores