Canada Day dustup
Big weekend planned at P.E.I.’s two race tracks
Canada has a special guest in its 150th birthday celebration as Canadian harness racing rings in 250 years of competition this weekend.
Red Shores at Summerside Raceway will hold a special Saturday card, swapping its usual Sunday program with the Charlottetown Driving Park.
First race post time is 1 p.m., with 13-dashes on tap Canada Day.
The Canada Day Pace lines up in Race 12 while other dashes will honour some of the key contributors in Island harness racing as the sport celebrates 2 1/2 centuries since the first recorded races at the Plains of Abraham in Quebec.
The Canada Day Pace has a hard-hitting field of seven, including Eagle Jolt looking for revenge after falling short in his latest start to Machinthesand. Eagle Jolt gets Post 7 as trainer Marc Campbell will drive for owners Wilbur and Marie MacDonald of Orwell Cove. Machinthesand has Post 6 with Ken Murphy in the sulky.
Rash B Havior has been knocking at the door in recent weeks as he rounds into form, and gets the services of Walter Cheverie in the $2,200 race.
Other entries include Narragansett (Jason Hughes), Windemere Rene (Gary Chappell), D Bs Rosco (Kenny Arsenault) and Mach It Big (Brian Andrew).
A field of trotters compete in Race 11 in honour of longtime Island harness racing participants Jim Macmillan and Alyre Pineau, who both showed a knack for the trotting breed.
Professor Gordon is the morning-line choice from Post 7 for driver Terry Gallant and owner-trainer Deanna Clow of New Haven.
Other top entries include Phantom Beau (Kenny Arsenault) and Zip The Lip (Adam Merner).
The other events will be races in appreciation of the commitment shown to Island racing by Ensor Perry, Arnold Blacquiere, Leith Clark, John L. Bernard, Ron MacArthur, Gordie Grady, Wendell Shaw, Bernie Gallant, Lester Chappell, Thane Mann, George Riley, Eric Johnston, Harry Robblee, Paul McKinnon, Willis Silliker, Walter Simmons, Orville Willis, Johnny Doyle, Boyd MacDonald and Erwin Howatt.
Charlottetown Invictus Hanover is favoured in a special Sunday feature.
First-race post time for the 12-dash card is 12:30 p.m. Some of the East Coast’s finest pacers will clash in the $2,400 Race 11 preferred pace.
Invictus Hanover is shouldered with the outside in the tight-knit field of five for trainer-driver Jason Hughes and owner Foxyhall Racing of Wallace, N.S. The six-year-old son of Yankee Cruiser makes his third start on red soil fresh off a fourth-place finish in the Cecil Ladner Memorial Invitational Pace.
Forever Paradise gets rail control for Adam Merner while Nogreatmischief makes his second seasonal start from Post 4 for trainer-driver Walter Cheverie.
The field also includes a stable entry from trainer Jackie Matheson with Perfect Escape (Gilles Barrieau), and Give Em Heck (Brian MacPhee) from Posts 2 and 3.
The open mares prepare for battle Sunday with a couple of new faces to spice up the ranks while race favourite Ramblinglily draws Post 6 with Cheverie at the lines.
Scirocco Miley Kay gets Post 1 in the $2,250 event, with Barrieau training and driving for owners Wayne MacRae of Fall River, N.S., and Howmac Farms of North Wiltshire. The six-yearold daughter of American Ideal was a 1:52.3 winner in April at Pompano Park in Florida, and just qualified in 2:00 in Charlottetown.
The program features races honouring Alex MacPhee, Allie Carr, Aubrey Webster, Bert Honkoop, Bill Lanigan, Blair Campbell, Blois MacPhail, Bob and Nina Webster, Bob Connolly, Clarkie Smith, Don Ling, Don Smith, Doug Roloson, Everett Stewart, Fred Hughes, Ian Smith, Jack Bernard, Jack Hynes, Jack Pound, Joe Smallwood, John Thompson, Keir Jones, Len Walsh, Lowell Stead, Neill MacKinnon, Ralph Sheppard, Roddie MacLeod, Sheldon Campbell, Wally McInnis and Wendell MacDonald.
Meanwhile, Atlantic Sires Stakes go Sunday at Inverness Raceway in Inverness, N.S., beginning at 1:30 p.m.