CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – The finest harness racing pacers in Eastern Canada will again meet up Saturday evening at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
The Saturday card has a 6 P.M. post time for the first of 12 dashes with the preferred pace hitting the track in race 11. Simple Kinda Man is the favourite in the $3,000 event after a runner-up finish to Yankee Osborne in 1:52 in last week's $7,500 Lindsay Construction Cup at Truro Raceway in Nova Scotia.
Jason Hughes is back in the seat behind Simple Kinda Man for trainer Chris MacKay and owners D Racing Stable of New York and Don MacRae of Vernon Bridge. Rose Run Quest has finished third in both the big Invitational dances this season and gets post 6 on Saturday for trainer-driver Marc Campbell. Lisburn was a 1:53.4 victor by open lengths last Saturday in Charlottetown with that pacer drawing post 4 this week for trainer-driver Kenny Arsenault.
Race analyst Les MacIsaac thinks today will be Rose Run Quest's time to shine.
"Rose Run Quest has not been winning with the frequency he did last year but don't lose sight of the fact that he's yet to be out of the top three," MacIsaac said. "He looks like the one to knock off."
Also in the field are Rockin Indy (To be driven by Mike McGuigan), Jetster (Brodie MacPhee), Burn Out Hanover (Walter Cheverie) and Soccer Hanover (Ken Murphy).
The Open Mares class lines up in race 10 with a full field of eight pacing lasses. Sodwana Bay reasserted her dominance in her latest start in Truro with a 1:54.4 victory at the Nova Scotia half-miler. Gilles Barrieau is back in the bike behind his trainee for owners Wayne MacRae of Fall River, N.S., and Howmac Farms Ltd., of North Wiltshire.
Other top entrants are Arc Light (Campbell) and Woodmere Chella (David Dowling).
Catch the action live on the worldwide broadcast at Redshores.ca and wager online at HPIBet.com.
by Nicholas Oakes, for Red Shores