The Inverness Oran

Sports

We’koqma’q man discovers potential Oyster virus cure

Joe Googoo checks his oysters on MacDonald’s Pond with his loyal assistant Ni’tap, which is the Mi’kmaq word for “My Little Friend.”

-by Brad Chandler

    A Waycobah man believes he may have found a strategy that can save oysters from a virus that wiped out 95 per cent of the Bras d’Or oyster population in 2002.
    Joe Googoo, a near five-decade-long oyster agriculturist believes the strategy he has been using to grow oysters can save them from the MSX virus that is responsible for killing 90 per cent of the oysters it infects.
    “The method I use is really good. It works for me so it should work for everyone...if you do everything right, it will work every time,” said Googoo.

Crowds, pays and the 50-50 continue to grow at Inverness Raceway

These three horses hit the finish line virtually at the same time in Sunday’s opener, resulting in rail horse Vegas Machs (Alex MacQuarrie) and Tequila N Paradise (Charles Fraser), in the middle, finishing in a dead heat for first, with #4 Eastcoast Invader (Rodney Gillis) in for third by a nose.

-by Bill Dunphy

   It was a great day.
   For some people, the first card of live harness racing at Inverness Raceway was the first live sports event they’ve watched since March.
   For most people, it was simply a welcome return to spending a warm, Sunday afternoon with like-minded people who appreciate what having a facility like the raceway means to our county.
   And for Redmond Doucet, it was a return to what he does best – winning races.
   Doucet kicked off the season by winning four of the eight dashes on Sunday, including an impressive 1:56.4 trip with three-year-old filly Na Naa Said So in race seven.
   Owned by the father-son team of Hughie and Ali MacEachern, Na Naa Said So wrapped up a great season as a two-year-old by winning the $24,000 Maritime Breeders championship in Truro last Octover, setting a new mark of 1:56.2.