RECORD TIME
Ys Lotus now holds Charlottetown, Summerside track records after victory in 57th edition of Gold Cup and Saucer
Ys Lotus, driven by Louis-Philippe Roy, wins Gold Cup and Saucer in record time.
Trainer Rene Allard was thinking of one of his mentors when Ys Lotus crossed the wire first in track record fashion Sunday morning in the $60,000 Sobey’s Gold Cup and Saucer final.
“Mr. Gold Cup and Saucer, Mike MacDonald, was a very good mentor to me,” he said of the Charlottetown native, while standing in the winner’s circle after Ys Lotus smashed the Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park (CDP) track record. “Mike has brought a lot of people over here and I feel like every time I’m in this race I think about him very strongly because he has done a lot for the Island.”
Allard is chipping away at MacDonald’s record five Gold Cup and Saucer victories. He now has two, having earned his first in 2014 with Bigtown Hero.
Ys Lotus was patient at the start in this year’s final, as driver Louis-Philippe Roy got away fourth. Go Daddy Go, driven by Brad Forward, fronted the field with Limelight Beach (Anthony MacDonald) second and Paparazzi Hanover (Travis Cullen) third.
The first quarter was in a blistering 26.2 with Ys Lotus seeing no choice but to commit first over before the 54.1 half. Ys Lotus kept advancing first over and cleared stablemate Go Daddy Go for the lead past three-quarters in 1:22.2.
That is when Roy pulled the earplugs on Ys Lotus and sailed to a 1:50.1 victory by six lengths over Go Daddy Go and Alexas Jackpot (Jody Jamieson) to tie the Canadian record for geldings on a half-mile track, set by Rockin Ron in this year’s Confederation Cup final at Flamboro Downs in Ontario.
“The race ended up going exactly the way I thought it would,” Allard said. “I saw Ys Lotus first over and I talked a couple times this week with the driver and he wanted to leave as hard as you can. Go Daddy Go was going to leave hard and you can’t have both of them leave hard and battle each other.”
Ys Lotus, owned by Yves Sarrazin of La Presentation, Que., has yet to be beat on P.E.I. in five starts, including the Governor’s Plate final and now holds the Summerside Raceway and CDP track records.
“Confidence is everything,” he said. “This horse right now, he doesn’t know who he’s racing against. We brought him here and the idea was the race in Summerside and he won it. He’s been building confidence and right now he feels so good, he is so strong.”
The 26-year-old Roy is in the midst of a career year, as he is the leading driver at Hippodrome 3R in his home province of Quebec and is second in the driver’s standings at Rideau Carleton Raceway outside Ottawa.
“He did it by himself,” Roy said of Ys Lotus’ performance. “It’s one the biggest races for people talking about it and the crowd that was here. It is what we need in harness racing, to be like P.E.I.”
Right after winning the Gold Cup and Saucer, Roy quickly returned to the paddock to change and drive through the night to Hippodrome 3R, where he drove in the $200,000 Prix D’Ete final Sunday, a drive Ys Lotus’ trial victory helped him secure.
“Like I always say, you need your opportunities,” Roy said, while indicating he would jump at a chance to move his driving talents to a bigger market. “If I get the opportunities I will do what I need to do to get higher and higher. . . It’s been an extraordinary year. It seems everything I do, it works.”
Allard said he had his best two weeks of the year, as he vacations from his busy New York racing stable.
“It’s such an amazing place and I keep telling people that this is the place to be,” he said.
“It’s such a phenomenal place to race, I just love to race here.”