Three-year-old colt Blazing Cays earned every bit of the winner’s share of the $6,000 stakes purse, going from last to first in 1:58.3 for driver Darren Crowe and Route Nineteen Racing.
-by Bill Dunphy
A packed race card of 13 dashes at Inverness Raceway on Sunday saw the Maritimes’ best pacers race for big money, including locally-owned Blazing Cays.
Owned by Port Hood’s Keith and Lewis MacDonell and Route Nineteen Racing, the son of Tobago Cays and the Mach Three mare Jenna Grace won the $6,000 Atlantic Sires Stakes B-Division for three-year-old colts.
The Inverness oval hosted the second leg of the Atlantic Sires Stakes for three-year-old pacing colts and geldings in addition to the Phil Pinkney Memorial Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies.
Tobago Cays’ win was won of several finishes that had the crowd in the packed grandstand on their feet cheering.
Getting a rough start off the gate from leaving post three, driver Darren Crowe was looking at the rest of the field heading into the first quarter.
Undaunted, Blazing Cays began reeling in the six in front of him, taking the lead heading into the stretch for a last quarter in 28.4 and a two-length win over Galway Bay (Monica Sutherland) in 1:58.2.
Sutherland had her own chance to shine later on in the card with a win in race 11 that saw four horses battling down the stretch for home.
Eastcoast Invader, trained by Sutherland and co-owned with her dad Todd, who does the breeding, was the longest shot on the board at 20:1.
However, Sutherland bided her time after dropping into fourth place off the rail before making her move three-wide at the three-quarter pole. From there, Invader found another gear to beat Stay Pumped (Travis MacLean), pace-setter Windemere Best Man (Danny Gillis), and Igot Socks (Rodney Gillis) for the win in 1:59.1.
Eastcoast Invader paid $22.70 to win and keyed a $765.40 triactor.
Two of the raceway’s youngest owners, Inverness sister and brother Ella and Danny MacDonald, got their first win of the season when Marc Campbell took Mcland from third at the half, overtaking Southfield Sandy (Lewis MacDonell) and Believe It See It (Rodney Gillis) to a one-length win in 1:59, pacing the last quarter in 28.3.
Inverness owner-trainer Shaun MacDonald got his first win of the season in race five when Redmond Doucet picked up his second win of the day, driving Afair Somewhere to a 1:59 mile.
Doucet made it three wins in a row for Drink Up Mouchacho, going gate to wire in 2:01.2 for owner-trainer J.J. MacDonald.
And Walter Deagle had two three-year-olds looking for their first win on Sunday. His filly, Nevaeh Divine, overcame fourth at the half to win the opening dash in 2:01 with Colin Sheppard on the reins.
His colt, Shekhan, picked up a fourth-place cheque in the $12,000 A-divison stakes race, pacing in 1:59.2 for Sheppard.
In Sunday’s $2,000 feature race, Mappos Lion pushed his win streak into the double-digits with an impressive performance that capped off the stakes-filled day of harness racing.
At the end of the day, Mappos Lion threatened the all-age track record winning in 1:55 flat, just four-fifths of a second off the track mark. The nine-year-old Sunshine Beach-Pacific Playmate gelding had Clare MacDonald back in the bike on this occasion after learning his early lessons from the respected horsewoman.
Perfect in his first seven starts of the year with his win streak stretching back to last July, Mappos Lion is trained by Kenny Collins and owned by Hailee Currie of Rocky Point, P.E.I., and breeder Carol Campbell of Baddeck.
Runner-up American Risk (Marc Campbell) had set the pace with fractions of :29, :58.4 and 1:28.1 while MacDonald had the popular 6-5 winner midfield and looped into pocket position down the backstretch the final time. Mappos Lion sprinted a 26.3 final quarter to defeat American Risk by 1-3/4 lengths. JMR Speak Away (Darren Crowe), the co-favourite in his East Coast debut, also closed well from the back to take third.
In the afternoon’s Atlantic Sires Stakes action, Smilin With Lou was the fastest A-division winner as the Bernard McCallum trainee lowered his lifetime mark to 1:56.1 in rein to Corey MacPherson. The winning time matched the three-year-old pacing colt track record set in 2014 by Rancousy. The overall sophomore male record stands at 1:54.2 courtesy of gelding Woodmere Stealdeal.
Winless in 11 starts as a two-year-old, Smilin With Lou is three-for-five so far this year with stakes wins in back-to-back weekends.
Windemere Britt claimed his second Atlantic Sires Stakes ‘A’ trophy this season with a wire-to-wire victory clocked in 1:58.4 for trainer Kyle Williams.
Driver Paul Langille had the Somewhere Fancy-Hart Of Windemere gelding moving to the front ahead of an inside breaker in the first turn and set tepid fractions of :30.1 and 1:01 to the half before picking up the pace to three-quarters in 1:30 and closing it out in :28.4. Woodmere Mahomes (Gilles Barrieau) edged past Woodmere Kobe (Corey MacPherson) in a late drive to the wire to finish second, one length behind the winner, who was the 5-2 third choice on the tote board.
After winning two of 11 starts as a freshman, Windemere Britt boasts a near-perfect record this year with just a half-length defeat in the Donnie & George Turner Memorial Stakes out of his first four sophomore starts.
Zero Two Sixty and driver Marc Campbell won the other A-division in 1:57.4 by two lengths after turning back a challenge from first-round winner Darbies Fancy (Gilles Barrieau).
With the inside post advantage and the leaving favourite Sporty Anthony (Corey MacPherson) breaking stride in the first turn, 2-1 second choice Zero Two Sixty established the lead and cruised through opening panels of :29.4 and :59 before being met with a challenge from Darbies Fancy as they raced by three-quarters neck and neck in 1:29.1. Zero Two Sixty found more, closing it out in 28.3 to fend off that rival and secure his first win of the year.
Three-year-old pacing fillies Staggerette and Fern Hill Kream headlined a pair of $10,020 Pinkney divisions.
Trained and driven by Corey MacPherson, 3-5 favourite Staggerette took the lead on the backside before opening up daylight in the fastest division, stopping the clock in 1:57.2, with Tarariser This (Marc Campbell) chasing nearly 10 lengths behind in second and West River Kennedy (Clare MacDonald) third.
With Brodie MacPhee in the sulky, 4-5 favourite Fern Hill Kream took the lead by the quarter pole and never looked back, ending more than three lengths ahead of Gias Gem (Clare MacDonald) at the wire in 1:59 while first-over mover Saulsbrook Desi (Keith Legge) finished third.
Live harness racing at Inverness Raceway switches to Wednesday night racing, beginning tomorrow (Wed., July 1) with a post time of 7 p.m.