CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – Roca Rei will be looking for redemption Thursday night as the top harness racing mares in Atlantic Canadian Racing are set to battle at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
First race post time is 7 pm for the 12-dash affair.
Newcomer Roca Rei was bet off the board in her East Coast debut last week in the $2,250 Fillies and Mares Open pace for trainer-driver Jason Hughes and owner Robi Hughes of Stratford but made a break at the start before grinding out a tough first over journey to fall a length short in 1:58. This week's edition of the Fillies and Mares open will line up in race 9 on the card with race analyst Les MacIsaac putting his stock in Roca Rei to have her game face on this week.
"She raced big last week after the early miscue and was just a length in arrears at the finish," MacIsaac said. "If she can come that close after being first up most of the way imagine what she can do with a trip."
There is some tough competition in the six-horse field as last week's winner, Brodys Leona (Corey MacPherson), has post 2, while top mares General Luckypercy (Ron Matheson) and Dirt Track Momma (Marc Campbell), have posts 4 and 6, respectively. Willow Warrior (Mark Bradley) will make her four-year-old debut off the rail after a three-year-old season that saw her win eight of 16 starts, while Onehotvett (Wade Sorrie) has post 5.
A field of seven will go to war in race 11 as I D K is favoured from post 2 for the sibling trio of driver Vincent Poulton, trainer Gary Poulton and owner Gail MacDonald. The $2,000 event also has Beckenbauer (Hughes), Cabo Pan Lucas (Daniel MacDonald), American Captain (Walter Cheverie), Cheyenne Ford (Kenny Arsenault), My Lucky Killean (Gary Chappell) and Machinthesand (MacPherson).
Perfect Escape is the morning line choice in the race 10 Blaine MacPherson 60th birthday pace. Ron Matheson will do the driving for trainer Jackie Matheson and owners Jack Keenan of Stratford and Joseph Dahl of Ontario.
The card also features two trot classes in races 1 and 3. Money Show (Brian Andrew) is favoured in the opener, while JK Queen (Cheverie) is the classifier's choice in race 3.
By Nicholas Oakes for Red Shores