Tough mares pace heads Charlottetown weekend

CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – Acefortyfour Dome (Up The Credit) controlled her fate in last week’s harness racing Fillies and Mares Preferred Pace all the way to the winner’s circle and will be set for a repeat on Saturday afternoon (12/2) at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.

The historic oval has a 13-race lineup on Saturday starting at 12:30 P.M.

Jason Hughes trains and drives the post 2 entry, Acefortyfour Dome, in the featured $3,200 Fillies and Mares Preferred Pace in race 12 for owner Donald MacRae of Vernon Bridge. A five-year-old mare,  Acefortyfour Dome is an 11-time winner this season including a 1:52.3 Truro Raceway track pacing mare record in July. She won her latest start at this same level last week in Charlottetown leading at every call over a sloppy track.

Dreamfair Zenfire is the morning line favourite in that event with post 3 for trainer-driver Marc Campbell. The Red Shores Charlottetown track record holder was absent from Acefortyfour Dome’s victory last week with Campbell vacationing in Western Canada after competing in the National Driving Championship. Plain Jane Corey MacPherson) also hails from the Campbell barn with post 5 while Ladylike (Ken Murphy) controls the pylons at the start. David Dowling trains and drives the post 4 entry Tobins Brownie who will look to build on her 16 top-three finishes in 2022.

The Post Time Picks like Acefortyfour Dome to get it all.

“Acefortyfour Dome raced great last week fending off all challenges and delivering win number 11 on the season. There’s no doubt Hughes will want to call the shots so if she does clear early, it could be lights out.”

Race 10 is the Joyriders Pace with Lyons Jennielee the morning line favourite for the orange duo of driver Murphy and trainer Chris Davies, who co-owns the mare with Suzanne Davies and Carole Wright of New Brunswick.

Jessiejesorjessica is favoured in the $2,800 Open trot in race 9 with Dowling at the controls for conditioner Jennifer Doyle, who co-owns with Danny Birt of Earnscliffe. The Justice Hall mare has post 6 on Saturday after having runner-up status her last two starts at the Open level. Last week’s winner, Hallofaride (Murphy) has post 5 in the class.

Preferred Foes Battle On Sunday 

The Preferred Pace has been nothing short of hotly contested in recent weeks and fans should expect more of the same on Sunday afternoon (Dec. 4).

The Capital oval has a 12-dash presentation on Sunday starting at 12:30 P.M. with the $3,500 Preferred Pace lining up in race 11. The featured dash will see Stash It Away (Pang Shui) try to get it all from post 5 with Marc Campbell getting the catch driving call for owner Reg MacPherson of Stratford and trainer Kevin MacLean. The three-year-old put together a superb sophomore campaign with over $48,000 in earnings and was a hard closing second in last week’s featured pace to fall short by a nose.

Mantario (Sportswriter) also closed sharply in that event for the team of driver David Dowling and trainer Jennifer Doyle to win up third. The six-year-old has hit the board in his last eight tries at the upper levels including a Nov. 13 Preferred win and starts from post 4 on Sunday.

Spicey P (Driven by Jason Hughes) has rail control with Mr Rielly (Corey MacPherson) holding down post 2. The hard leaving Burn Out Hanover (Brady Sweet) gets post 3 while last week’s Preferred winner Navalny (Adam Merner) leaves from post 6.

The Post Time Picks see Mantario returning to the Preferred Pace winner’s circle.

“All Mantario does is finish in the top three and been oh so close the past two weeks. Dowling won’t panic off the wings and there’s no doubt he’ll be storming on the end of it just in time to get gold.”

Maritime Breeder’s winner Middleton Terror makes his return to the racetrack in race 10 on the day for trainer-driver Dowling and owners Kingsley Walsh, Frank Balcom and Donald Walsh. The Stonebridge Terror three-year-old has not seen pari-mutuel action since July, shortly after his 1:54.2 victory in a $14,200 Home Hardware Maritime Breeder’s division. The sophomore has post 2 for his return.

The live Race Day broadcast is on the Red Shores YouTube channel as well as at Redshores.ca. Wager online at HPIBet.com.

For complete Saturday race entries, click here.

For complete Sunday race entries, click here.

by Nicholas Oakes, for Red Shores