Gillespie wins four at Kawartha Downs
FRASERVILLE – It was an excellent night for Jim Gillespie at Kawartha Downs Saturday night as he won three races on the eight race program and a pair of bouncy pony races as well.
The young pilot’s hat trick was courtesy of Wildcat Jet who won the first race in 1:59, Wildcat Magic who took the fourth in 1:54.4 and Nothing But Bad who was home first in the sixth race to win in 1:58.3.
Kawartha also featured bouncy pony races with two qualifying races, the first for four of the track’s top drivers, Gillespie, Nick Boyd, Justin Turcotte and Rob Doyle. The second qualifying race featured four trainers; Ronda Markle, Rod Hughes, Tommy Riley and Dave Gibson. The top two finishers from each heat returned for the final raceoff after the seventh race.
Gillespie won the drivers’ event and it was very tight for second between Boyd and Doyle with the judges giving the nod to Boyd. In the trainers’ match Riley was the going away winner over Hughes.
In the faceoff it was the drivers edging the trainers and the finish was so close at the wire for first place between Boyd and Gillespie the judges declared a dead heat.
The bouncy ponies were on loan from Grand River Raceway and the Kawartha race fans enjoyed a different type of horse racing.
Racing returns to Kawartha Downs next Saturday with a 7 p.m. post time.