Summerside, PE – Red Shores Summerside held a 10 dash harness racing card on Wednesday to celebrate Lobster Festival Week with PEI Seafood night. Machinthesand, owned by Noonan Holdings Ltd – Russell and Karen Noonan, won the evening's feature presented by Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Customers and visitors to the historic oval were treated to samples of world-class seafood and harness racing.
Driven by Norris Rogers, Machinthesand (Mach Three) busted the gate from post 5 to level fractions of 28.3, 58.4 and 1:28.2. He closed his final quarter in 27.1 to win by three lengths in 1:55.3. Athletic Putnam (Dale Spence) was second with Motorino (Terry Gallant) third.
In other action, driver Walter Cheverie claimed the Summerside Lobster Festival Pace aboard Capitalism for owner Kristina McCourt, Summerside,PE. Cheverie returned in the very next race with veteran pacer Blue Meadow Willie to be presented with the Arsenault's Fish Mart cooler. The 12 year-old pacer, owned by Robert and Brenda MacInnis, Summerside, recorded his 59th lifetime victory.
Ken Murphy also a driving double on the program. Wager was $15,051. For complete results go to www.redshores.ca
By Lee Drake
Matchup Rekindled In Red Shores Feature
CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – A Governor's Plate Night rivalry will be renewed Thursday evening at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park and Bazillion wants to settle the score.
The Trevor Hicken trainee has drawn post 3 in the $2,200 feature event scheduled as race 11 on the Thursday evening program with the first of 12 dashes scheduled to kick off at 6:30 PM. Bazillion will have Brian MacPhee back in the bike for owner Kent Livingston of Cornwall after finishing third last Saturday during Governor's Plate night action at Red Shores Summerside. The six-year-old son of Village Jolt did all the front end road work in that start only to give way to Smiley Bayama down the stretch in a scorching 1:55 mile. With an inside post and Smiley Bayama leaving on his outside, the score could be settled this Thursday, with the post 6 leaving Smiley Bayama scheduled to have Adam Merner in the bike for trainer Ron Gass and owners Shelley and Alexis Gass, of Cornwall.
Race analyst Les MacIsaac sees Bazillion setting up shop on the front end again this week but think rail starter My Lucky Killean (Ken Murphy) can leave enough to make front-end-control a dear price to pay. MacIsaac says this will all play into the game plan for Smiley Bayama to win it all and turn his three race win streak into four.
"He's firing on all cylinders right now with three straight wins," MacIsaac said. "The possibility of some early mayhem up front could set things up nicely for his rallying style and give him a great chance to keep the streak intact."
Other entries include Whosurwinner (Mike McGuigan), Nogreatmischief (Walter Cheverie), Tempo Seelster (Todd Walsh), and Perfect Escape (Ron Matheson).
The race 6 Open trot carries a $1,950 purse and see a career opportunity for a 18-year-old reinsman. With stakes action scheduled for Truro Raceway in Nova Scotia Thursday night, that leaves the race bike seat empty for the Marc Campbell trained Freddie, leaving from post 5 this week. Rookie driver Ryan Desroche will get the call to fill that void behind the 13-time winner for owners Three Wisemen Stable of Cornwall. Other top entries include Wedgewood (Gary Chappell) from post 2 and Frill Seeker (Kenny Arsenault) with post 3.
By Nicholas Oakes for Red Shores