Blazing speed
It could be a real treat to watch the best pacers do battle this year
There were surreal fractions set in last Saturday’s preferred pace at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park (CDP) all thanks to a pair of top-notch pacers.
Adkins Hanover did the early roadwork with times of 27.1, 55.4 and 1:25.4 but it was the newcomer, Mr Irresistible, who picked up the pieces for a 1:55.1 victory. Adkins Hanover looked like he was ready to throw in the towel past three-quarters, but dug in late in the stretch to fight off Junebugs Baby and make it a close race for the win photo.
Adkins Hanover and Mr Irresistible are certainly freefor-all material and will have a chance to strut their stuff in the Governor’s Plate later this summer at Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway. Add Junebugs Baby to the mix, along with perennial top pacer D Gs Camme, fan favourite Smiley Bayama and newcomer Invictus Hanover, from the Jason Hughes stable, and it could be a real treat to watch the best pacers go at it.
No doubt some other faces will emerge with a horse like Mozartsplace for trainer Jackie Matheson showing he has the speed to contend in the freefor-all ranks, but has to make the tough jump to four-yearold competition. Other possibilities to hit the track shortly in top-class action include Jeb, Midnight Play and Clic K.
The CDP is scheduled to move to a Thursday and Saturday night schedule starting next week with post times at 6:30 and 6 p.m., respectively.
The Summerside Raceway opens it season on Victoria Day, Monday, May 22, while the stakes season kicks off the same day at Exhibition Park Raceway in Saint John, N.B., with the Bill Quigg stake for three-year-old colt and filly pacers.
Across The Continent
Wally Hennessey showed why he is in the harness racing hall of fame Tuesday night at Pompano Park in Florida.
The Charlottetown native won eight out of 10 races at the track as he runs away with top driving honours for the meet.
Cornwall native John MacDonald with Layer Cake captured one of the races Hennessey
did not win on the card in 1:54.
Dial The Bossman was entered in a $14,000 maiden class at Mohawk Raceway in Ontario Thursday night for new trainer Gregg McNair and owner Doug MacPhee of New Haven. The three-year-old Artistic Fella pacer was sharp in his CDP qualifier on April 22 in 1:56.1 and remains eligible to a number of top stakes, including the $1 million Pepsi North American Cup.
Kingston native Mark MacDonald was doing double duty Saturday night as he drove the first five races at Yonkers Raceway in New York before switching to the Meadowlands in New Jersey to drive in the last four races there.
The reason for abandoning Yonkers was to drive Western Fame, who won the $18,000 event in 1:51, for trainer Jimmy Takter. Western Fame, who MacDonald drove the majority
of time during his three-yearold season in 2016, is eligible for a number of Grand Circuit four-year-old stakes, including the Prix D’Ete in Quebec and the Confederation Cup later this month at Flamboro Downs in Ontario.
P.E.I. Scene
Cabaret is a new addition for trainer Blaine McKenna. The seven-year-old daughter of Mcardle has 16 lifetime victories, $95,215 in earnings and a mark of 1:53.1 taken over Harrah’s Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
She last raced at Northfield Park in Ohio, but qualified Monday in Summerside for new owners Harvey Timmon and Susanne MacKeigan of Nova Scotia and Arthur Fraser of Summerside and Conrad Perry of Clermont. Nicholas Oakes’ column appears in The Guardian each Friday. He can be reached at nicholasoakes@hotmail.com.