CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Island-owned and sired Bettim Again made short work of his foes Monday in his debut on Canada’s biggest harness racing stage.
The son of Hampshire sire Malicious was on top at every station in a $16,000 conditioned race at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Campbellville, Ont., and unloaded a 27.2 closing panel to win easily in a new career best of 1:53.4. Owned by Jeff Lilley of Miltonvale Park, Blair MacLauchlan of Charlottetown, Christina Lecky of Summerside and Ian MacDonald of Nova Scotia, Bettim Again is now trained by eight-time O’Brien Award winner Richard Moreau while four-time O’Brien Award-winning driver Sylvain Filion was at the lines.
Born in Nova Scotia and trained down by Truro, N.S., resident George Rennison, Bettim Again set a stakes record of 1:54.1 as a two-year-old in September’s P.E.I. Colt Stakes at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park. That mile is also a co-holder of the overall two-year-old Atlantic record for pacers along with Woodmere Stealdeal.
Bettim Again has recently been made eligible for June’s $1-million Pepsi North America Cup race at Woodbine, the biggest purse for pacers in Canada, as well as the Somebeachsomewhere stakes and all of his Atlantic stakes engagements.
Finishing second to Bettim Again in Monday’s race was Card Swap, a four-year-old son of Classic Card Shark, trained by Terry Gallant for new owner Jennifer Doyle of Earnscliffe. Doyle claimed the pacer for $18,750 on Feb. 25 at Woodbine.
P.E.I. Scene
The strangles situation at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park is drawing to a close with more than 200 horses on the grounds deemed clear and healthy.
A few more tests must be done to clear the final horses still showing that they were in contact with the bacteria that causes the equine disease. Thankfully there was only two horses that ever became clinically sick with strangles and both those horses are cleared and back in training.
The provincial government announced $80,000 in funding to test all Island race horses across the countryside this week. The move was made to ensure a continuation of P.E.I.’s reputation as a world class jurisdiction for the racing and breeding of standardbred horses, as well as to elevate the Island industry to the only place in North American racing that can definitively declare itself to be strangles clean.
The Island racing season is set to begin May 1 in Charlottetown, but officials have indicated that opening date may be pushed back. The possible delay is because of horses not stabled in Charlottetown being unable to use the capital facility due to the strangles situation. More information on whether May 1 will be opening day will be released in the days to come.
Nicholas Oakes' column appears in The Guardian each Friday. He can be reached at [email protected].
