The 2012 O’Brien Awards presenations are set for Saturday night in Mississauga, Ont.
Named after Alberton native Joe O’Brien, the awards honour the best in Canadian harness racing for the 2011 season and a pair of Islanders will be front and centre.
Summerside native Shannon (Sugar) Doyle will be co-hosting the event along with Woodbine track announcer Ken Middleton.
Doyle is the announcer for Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing at Northlands Park in Edmonton and has also served as announcer for Evergreen Park in Grande Prairie, Alta., and Alberta Downs in Lacombe.
Doyle will be the third Islander to co-host the event, as Greg Blanchard and Lee Drake both previously hosted.
Marc Campbell will also be attending the awards banquet, as he is a finalist for the O’Brien award for horsemanship.
The Maritime dash-winning champion is coming off a career year where he drove 174 winners and earned $356,667 in purses.
As a trainer, Campbell has 57 wins and $177,883 in earnings, highlighted by a win in the Maritime Breeders’ final with two-year-old pacing filly Malabrigo.
A total of 21 awards will be given out during the evening.
Around The Tracks
A Charlottetown native will make his debut on Canadian racing’s big stage tonight.
Jason Ryan is set to drive Victory Creed from Post 4 in Race 2 at Woodbine Raceway in Rexdale, Ont.
The seven-year-old son of Artiscape won his last two starts in a $10,000 claimer at Flamboro Downs for trainer Brian Lee and owner Island native William Andrew of Calgary.
Anthony Artuso of Sudbury, Ont., where Ryan competed the majority of the year, claimed the pacer and entrusted him in Ryan’s care.
He is listed at odds of 8-1 in the $12,000 to $15,000 claiming handicap pace, which is a bit of a P.E.I. affair.
The eight-horse field also includes 2011 Gold Cup and Saucer trial starter Western Raydar, trained by Cornwall native David Dowling, 2009 Gold Cup and Saucer champion All The Weapons, now owned by Island residents Katie Miller and Jonah Moase, and Jersey Joe, who was broke in Charlottetown by Lenny Myers.
The race has an 8:30 p.m. AT post time.
Race 3 on the Woodbine card has Maritime stakes champion Maple Leaf Spirit competing in the $75,000 Lifetime Dream series final.
Chris Christoforou is in the bike for trainer Stephen Charlton from Post 7.
The daughter of Meadowagogo was a winner in the first leg of the series, then finished fourth in the second leg, boosting her lifetime earnings to over $100,000.
She has been installed as the 6-1 third choice in the morning lines for the rich final.
Last Thursday at Flamboro Downs, Proven Lover was a winner in 1:59.1 over a track rated three seconds off for trainer-driver Garret Whelan and owner Casey Gavin of Tignish.
The former Gold Cup and Saucer finalist has not been re-entered to race.
P.E.I. scene
Maple Leaf Spirit’s sire, Meadowagogo, is now back on P.E.I.
The 14-year-old son of A Go Go Lauxmont is being stood by Bert Honkoop in Montague.
The trot stud stood his last year on P.E.I. in 2008, before returning to the U.S., where he did not sire any horses.
He returns this year for his fourth season at stud and looks to build upon his record, which includes stakes winners West River Victory, Moulded Image and BJ High Meadow.
Another addition to the stud ranks is six-year-old pacer Carnivore. The son of Real Desire — Party Animal — The Panderosa is owned by the Lucky Seven stables of North Wiltshire.
He boasts 16 wins from 63 career starts, along with $578,059 in earnings, and a mark of 1:50.3 at Lexington, Ky., at age two in the $300,000 Kentucky Sires Stakes final.
His other major wins included a $100,000 Burlington division, and a $85,350 division of the Bluegrass.
He last raced Dec. 10, 2011, in Charlottetown under the care of trainer Earl Watts.
The final card of the season goes Saturday at the Charlottetown Driving Park with a 1 p.m. start time for the 15-dash card.
Who’s hot
Wednesday night at Western Fair Raceway in London, Ont., Lasting Impression had her second win in a row, in a new 2:00.4 lifetime mark, from just three lifetime tries.
The three-year-old daughter of American Ideal is owned by Tommy Collings of Mount Stewart and trained by Island native David O’Brien.
A $7,000 purchase from the 2010 Harrisburg yearling sale, the filly was broke and trained down by Jason Hughes in Charlottetown before being sent to the Dorchester Training Centre in November.
Nicholas Oakes’ column appears in
The Guardian each Saturday. He can be
reached at nicholasoakes@hotmail.com.
