CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The 2017 harness racing season is well in the books along with the 2018 winter meet.
With racing on the Island taking a hiatus, it is time to look back on the 2017 calendar racing year with the top stories in Island racing at Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway and Charlottetown Driving Park. This is first part of a three-part series.
30. First And Last
The 2017 Island racing season opened up on Jan. 7 with Ideal Space winning the season opener in 2:01.2 at Charlottetown for driver Adam Merner and trainer Joey Squires. Pictonian Storm closed out the season in the final race of Dec. 31 with a 2:02.2 effort for driver Wade Sorrie and trainer Austin Sorrie.
29. New Blood In Driving Ranks
Cornwall native David Dowling made his entrance into the P.E.I. driving ranks in August. A former leading driver at Sudbury Downs in Ontario, Dowling sports a .275 driving average for his first season driving back home on red soil.
28. Julep Hanover Iron Tough
She may not have done anything truly out of the ordinary, but Julep Hanover is a perfect example of the small operations that provide the back bone of Island racing. Trained, driven and owned by Wade Myers of Charlottetown, the tough pacing mare put $9,443 in the bank in 2017 with 21 top-three finishes from 33 starts. Racing week after week, the one mare stable also knocked off the open mares on one occasion in the 2017 campaign.
27. Weatherbee Brings ‘Czar’
Cape Breton native Todd Weatherbee and owner Tammy Johnston were new additions to Island racing in 2017, bringing Western Rocker and top class and potential invitational pacer Czar Seelster to Charlottetown.
26. Large Years For Murphy
With very little fanfare, driver Ken Murphy has been establishing himself as a major presence in Island racing. The personable reinsman has banked more than $100,000 in each of his last three seasons and is just $8,000 shy of hitting the $1-million mark in career earnings.
25. Westbound Filly
Royaltywestho was one of the most impressive youngsters to hit the track in 2017 as the Island-bred and Nova Scotia-trained two-year-old daughter of Westwardho Hanover made her mark early. The pacer was undefeated until Old Home Week and finished the year with seven wins, two seconds and $42,494 in earnings from 10 starts.
24. The Triactor Mare
The Danny Birt-owned Good Luck Kathy put in a tremendous 2017 season, with an incredible 31 top-three finishes from 50 starts. The pacing mare has been on P.E.I. since June.
23. D Gs Camme Hangs Up Harness
A two-time Gold Cup and Saucer finalist, D Gs Camme called it a career in October. Owned by Quentin and Hal Bevan, Tom Clark and Ron Matheson, all of Charlottetown, the eight-year-old son of Blissfull Hall finishes his career with 32 wins from just 83 lifetime starts.
22. End Of The ‘Track Man’
After 33 years of service tending to the Charlottetown Driving Park surface, track maintenance specialist Randy Doyle put in his final race card of work on Sept. 16 during the P.E.I. Colt Stakes. Now a new crew will have to fill his shoes to get the capital oval ready for 33 more years of track records.
21. Record Setting ‘Magnum’
In a year where every two-year-old pacing gelding record was equalled or broken, Oceanview Magnum was part of that action. The Earl Watts-trained son of Western Paradise set a new standard of 1:56.4 over Northside Downs in Nova Scotia, and equalled the 1:59 two-year-old pacing gelding track record at Exhibition Park Raceway in New Brunswick.
Nicholas Oakes' column appears in The Guardian each Friday. He can be reached at [email protected].
