By Nicholas Oakes for Red Shores
CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – A streak of dominance and a pair of worthy challengers make for a compelling trotting feature on Thursday evening at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
The 10-dash Thursday card gets underway at 6 P.M., and the spotlight lands squarely on race 8 with a deep field of trotters vying for a $3,850 purse.
Buckhead Ridge (To be driven by Marc Campbell) has been perfect in two Island starts and will try to keep that record intact from post 4. Landon Campbell trains for owner Brady Doyle of Stratford. The Nuncio gelding has steamrolled his foes in back-to-back outings, including a 1:56.4 performance last week where he sprinted home in 29 seconds flat.
New Legacy has been the runner-up to Buckhead Ridge in both his May starts and draws post 7 this time. The Father Patrick gelding trained by Jennifer Doyle and driven by David Dowling has banked over $242,000 in his career.
Fight Song (Hughes) rounds out the trio of top contenders. The Kadabra six-year-old has just returned from racing at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Ontario.
Also in the feature trot are Baskin Robin (Corey MacPherson), Jessiejesorjessica (Ken Murphy), Glider Man (Myles Heffernan Sr.) and Curadh (Ryan Desroche).
The Backstretch Beat nods to Buckhead Ridge.
“He’s been perfect since arriving on the Island going gate to wire in back to back starts. Moves to the mid pack and Campbell will have him up close to the action so there’s a strong chance he scores a natural hat trick.”
The featured pace is in race 9 as Lyons Shining makes her Charlottetown debut from post 1.
The Sweet Lou mare comes in from Ontario and lands in a prime spot for her Maritime premiere with Marc Campbell driving for trainer Landon Campbell and owners Ryan and Everett MacLeod and Matt and David Burke. Lyons Shining is a seven-time winner with a 1:54.1 lifetime best taken at Rideau Carleton Raceway.
Her foes also include Acefortyfour Dome (Hughes), Shake N Blake (Murphy), Elm Grove Mistress (Dowling) and Ms Meaghan Sparkel (Desroche).
For the complete program, race-day picks, live stream and more visit Redshores.ca. Wager online through HPIBET.com.
