CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The first round of qualifiers is in the books on Prince Edward Island and live racing returns to red soil on Saturday evening at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
The 6 p.m. program features the fullest opening day card seen at the capital oval in a number of years with 12 dashes scheduled and 86 entries.
The program will see a modest purse increase of $100 a dash, which that and more is sorely needed for Island racing.
Some newcomers to P.E.I. will make their debuts on the card with Confident Fella entered in the Race 11 $2,500 preferred pace for trainer Ralph Sweet from Post 4. The six-year-old son of Artistic Fella has 16 lifetime wins and $72,916 in purse earnings along with a 1:55.2 record over Rideau Carleton Raceway in Ontario. John and David Sweet of O’Leary hold the ownership papers for the pacer who last competed in a $8,000 claiming event at Woodbine Raceway in Rexdale, Ont.
Rockys World is a new addition for the Vaughan Doyle stable of Charlottetown. A five-year-old son of World Of Rocknroll, Rockys World has eight career victories, a record of 1:52.2 over Plainridge Raceway outside Boston and more than $80,000 in the bank. Now owned by Darla Jay of Charlottetown and Shelly Wilkie of Stratford, the pacer was competing at Scarborough Downs in Maine. He has Post 6 in Race 9 on Saturday’s Charlottetown program.
What A Babe has drawn Post 3 in her Race 2 P.E.I. debut on the Saturday card. Todd Walsh trains and drives the four-year-old daughter of Lislea who has four wins from 33 career outings along with $28,726 earned and a 1:56 Saratoga Raceway record taken in New York. She last raced in January at Monticello Raceway in New York.
Also on the program, rookie driver Austin Sorrie, 18, will make his pari-mutuel debut in Race 3 on the card with Thebestofme from his own stable for owners Megan Lewis of St. Peters Bay and Mallory Lewis of Charlottetown. Sorrie has a pair of drives on the program in his much-anticipated driving debut.
Another young driver was impressive in his debut, while it was just in qualifying action. Drew Neill, 18, has six qualifiers under his belt so far but showed some talent at this early stage in his career. Neill will surely amass enough qualifying points to hit pari-mutuel action in the coming weeks of the season.
Island Bound
While not on P.E.I. yet, a pair of pacers are sure to show up to on the Island this summer but are currently battling the Ontario circuit.
Jds Double Dose is now owned by Dale Spence of Tyne Valley, who was at Woodbine Mohawk Park last week to drive the five-year-old son of Dali for trainer Jason Ryan. The pacer has just one career win with more than $15,000 earned and a 1:57 record taken in Ohio. Jds Double Dose is entered to race again Sunday night at Flamboro Downs in Ontario in a $7,000 claiming event.
In Spades will hit red soil this summer with his eyes on the Governor’s Plate Invitational at Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway. In Spades is now owned by Walter Simmons of Summerside with J. Harris training the four-year-old son of Bettor’s Delight in Ontario. With an impressive resume of eight wins from 38 lifetime starts and $89,782 in earnings, the pacer took his career best of 1:52 last week at Woodbine Mohawk Park in his first start for his new owner. The start previous, In Spades was a winner in 1:53.2 over the half-mile oval at Flamboro Downs in Dundas, Ont., which was the fastest mile over a half-mile track in Canada in 2018.
Nick’s Picks
Saturday at 6 p.m. at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park:
Race 1 – Private Dancer
Race 2 – Brief Interlude
Race 3 – Bowyer Hanover
Race 4 – Political Crisis
Race 5 – Dusty Lane Artiste
Race 6 – Likely To Win
Race 7 – Keep Coming
Race 8 – One Hot Camshaft
Race 9 – Weekend Atnannies
Race 10 – Malabrigo
Race 11 – Tobinator
Race 12 – Oh To Be Me
Nicholas Oakes' column appears in The Guardian each Friday. He can be reached at [email protected].
