CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The horse that completed the triactor at The Guardian Gold Cup and Saucer faces off with the Roach MacGregor champion tonight at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
The rivalry between Rose Run Quest and Czar Seelster headlines the 13-dash card set for a 6 p.m. first-race post time.
The $2,650 preferred pace hits the track in Race 12 with Rose Run Quest leaving from Post 6 as the morning-line favourite. Marc Campbell trains and drives the son of If I Can Dream for owner Blair Hansen of Charlottetown.
The pacer jumped up for a third-place finish in the $60,000 Gold Cup and Saucer final in Charlottetown, pacing a mile in 1:51.2.
With the inside post advantage is the $20,000 James (Roach) MacGregor Gold Cup and Saucer consolation winner, Czar Seelster. Kenny Arsenault is back in the bike behind the Stonebridge Regal pacer for trainer Todd Weatherbee and owner Tammy Johnston of Vernon Bridge.
The Governor’s Plate champion gets the respect of race analyst Les MacIsaac, who thinks Czar Seelster can overpower his top-classs foes.
“Czar Seelster has been in almost every invitational the Maritimes has had to offer this year and missed the top three twice from 17 tries,” MacIsaac said. “It is a remarkable accomplishment given the calibre of his opposition and many less-than-ideal posts. The great spot he gets to work from this time around makes him the one to knock off.”
The top-notch field also includes: Winter Blast (Jason Hughes), Keep Coming (David Dowling), Fast N Victorious (Adam Merner), Tobinator (Corey MacPherson), Nabber Again (Mike McGuigan) and Euchred (Gilles Barrieau).
Nine straight top-two finishes are no small feat, but that’s the record Sodwana Bay brings to the Race 10 fillies and mares open pace.
Leaving from Post 6, the Barrieau-trained-and-driven pacing mare has only tasted defeat twice on the East Coast, both by less than a length. Sodwana Bay is owned by Wayne MacRae of Fall River, N.S., and Howmac Farms Ltd., of North Wiltshire.
Nikes Cowgirl was a runner-up in this class last week and gets Post 5 for trainer-driver Campbell while Shadows Mystery is also billed as a top entrant with rail control for driver Merner.
– Compiled by Nicholas Oakes for Red Shores.
