SRW & Lobster Carnival; Center of Maritime Racing Action
Horsetalk
By
Hal Hennessey
Aled Hanover - heavy favourite in Governors Plate Elims. (Gail & Ronata - courtesy
CDP)
It’s now going to be all ‘Summerside Raceway’ all the time for the next couple of weeks
in Atlantic Canada. The big Canada Day card has just completed as I write this and
Lobster Carnival Week racing is due to kick off this coming Sunday. That said, perhaps
we’d best get last week’s events out of the way, before we go on. The winners from East
of Charlottetown on the Canada Day card included Bert Honkoop’s BJ Carmalyta in
2:05.3 and Jim Gorman’s Dusty Red Lane in 2:02. Both won their 3 YO Maple Leaf Trot
divisions. Thursday night’s card at the ‘Charlottetown Driving Park’ included wins by
the Selkirk Stable’s Pictonian Jewel in 1:59.3, Raymond White’s Painted Pony in 1:59.4
and Roger MacRae’s Pictonian Walton in 2:00.4. The card also featured a nice trip by
Jack Hynes and Evan Ford’s 3 YO Kingdom Come in 1:56.2. Saturday at the CDP,
King’s Co. winners included Aubrey Webster’s PH Littlecam in 1:59.1 and Trevor
Hicken’s All Turain who recorded a dandy 1:56.3 win. And you had to be impressed with
the feature race win by Aled Hanover. The Summerside-based horse came from the back
of the pack for driver Dale Sobey and led them all to the wire in 1:55.2. There’s no doubt
he’s going to create a stir in Governor’s Plate competition.
---------------------------------------------Speaking of Lobster Carnival week, as I said it kicks off this Sunday with the feature
being the first elimination for the Governors Plate. The second and third elimination, in a
pleasant change, will both go on Monday night. Much better for the bet and attendance to
have three separate elims, rather than the previous format. That change hasn’t been
announced yet, but my source is pretty sure this is the plan. The elimination for the aged
mares is also on Monday night. I haven’t room for the complete Lobster Carnival Week
sched, but it’s all available on the SRW calendar at www.mphrc.ca. I have to say that
some of the changes at SRW and the CDP would indicate that ALC’s management team
is getting out from under the thumb of the PEI Harness Racing Industry’s Family
Compact crowd. These days the AlC team seems to be making decisions for the
betterment of PEI racing and its fans – not just for the chosen few.
-------------------------------------------
Hon. Gail Shea and former PCHC president Barry Biggar (ACOA )
There was lots of discussion this past week about the scheduling of the 14 stake races at
SRW on Canada Day. It came as the Atlantic Lotto team was introducing a new $100,000
promotion designed to build the live wager. Some, including yours truly, wondered about
the PEI Harness Racing Industry Association classification committee’s decision to load
SRW up with stakes. Especially seeing as how they are not always that popular with
bettors. Were they trying to hurt the Summerside bet? Some history might help you
understand why that question would be asked. ‘Tis claimed that the insiders group,
(primarily breeders) at the PEIHRIA, have long wanted to concentrate all racing at the
CDP. Likewise, many believe they have little care for the small overnight horsemen –
their biz is selling colts after all and most don’t even race a horse. According to the
minister responsible for racing Wes Sheridan, this group are also his Harness Racing
‘advisors’ and he seemingly depends on their advice. Most horsemen know he originally
refused to build a new grandstand at SRW – despite claims that it was an election promise
made by his party’s Western PEI candidates. A number of folks believe the ‘advisors’
influenced this decision. It’s thought they hoped his refusal would see SRW wither on the
vine, without new facilities and its race dates would go to Charlottetown. However, the
Prince Co. Horsemens Club had a strong leader at the time in Barry Biggar and he
circumvented them all. He got Gail Shea involved with the City of Summerside and she
brought in PM Steven Harper, who made a financial commitment to the project and voila!
ACOA money came through and they had a new grandstand in Western PEI. Obviously
this was not viewed as a positive by some. Folks close to the issue will tell you the
Family Compact were frustrated because this allowed SRW to survive and defeated their
plan to concentrate all racing at the CDP. What to do? Well the policy now seems to be to
discourage overnight horsemen and take away their racing opportunities. It was a tactic
also used last year. You may recall Vance Cameron’s critical JP columns about the
practice at the time. It’ll be interesting to see if it continues and SRW horsemen are again
denied starts at their own track this year. Almost 60 were left out last Sunday. The good
news is that the Atlantic Lotto management team’s new $100,000 Dash for Cash
promotion overcame any qualms bettors might have had about wagering on the stakes. In
fact, by my calculations their new promotion produced the best wager on PEI this year. It
came in at about $34,000. Not only that, but I think SRW’s bet is up overall for the year.
A good Lobster Carnival Week wager and continued growth, may finally force Mr.
Sheridan and his ‘advisors’ to give SRW more race dates in the future. And wouldn’t that
be a kick in the arse to some?
------------------------------------------Horses for Courses:
Some local notes first; Jay Noye sends along word that his and Bill Andrew’s recent
claimer Lisfinny is training back like a house afire. The 7 YO Panderosa gelding had
been pacing Georgian in :52/:53 before they picked him up. Nice to see quality overnight
horses continuing to arrive on the Island. At Mohawk recently, Spinarama made it 3 in a
row for Doc Moore and partners – mile in 1:52.3. Moore and daughter Chelsey also had a
winner with their Peruvin It in 1:56.4. Family affair in fact – Tyler drove. At Flamboro
Sean MacSwain’s Acton Onelasttime was a winner in :56.4 recently. There was
Wednesday racing at Fredericton last week and Ian Smith’s Mcport In A Storm was a
winner in 2:02.1 He’s owned in partnership with Wayne MacRae and Gilles Barrieau.
Sittler was also a winner on that card for the MacDonald, Ross, Seymour group in 2:01.
Kawartha Downs was the scene of a win for Brett Revington and dad Gary’s latest claim
Addys Way – mile in 1:54.3. Carl Bagnall had a win at Woodstock with his homebred
trotter Glencove Umay. That mile went in 2:02.2. And on a Sudbury Saturday night,
Jason Ryan drove his own Diego Seelster to the win in 1:57.4. Finally, in Inverness on
Sunday Barbara Murphy had a win with her Im Here For You in 2:05.
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Tip O’ The Whip:
Gary Chappell hits Grand Slam at CDP. (Gail & Ronata - courtesy CDP)
Good guy Gary Chappell for his 4 wins on the Saturday card at the CDP. I like Gary
personally, think he’s a very talented horseman and that he’s often underrated – nice to
see him do well.
------------------------------------------------------Questions/Comments? hal.al@sympatico.ca
The Post Script
ALC's Tom Mullally & Brett Revington, shown here with veteran driver Kenny
Arsenault (Gail & Ronata - CDP)
A few notes on the above column: you’ll note that SC confirmed after I had filed, that in
fact SRW did record the highest wager this year on PEI - $34,166. Great bet and great
fans and obviously goes against the grain of the Horseplayers of North America surveys,
that say stakes aren’t always among the favourite wagers of the ‘cappers. Some other
reasons of course as has been pointed out, the influx of visitors for other events at the
complex and the great work on promotions by the ALC management team, particularly
the new Dash for Cash promotion. I’d say that the impact of Tom Mullally & Brett
Revington’s team is now really making itself felt. In fact, I’m told that overall SRW’s bet
is up some $25 – 30,000 so far this year. I’m hoping to have some official numbers after
Lobster Carnival Week. You’ll note as well if you look at Sunday & Monday’s entries
for SRW, as I predicted, they have now made the Governor’s Plate eliminations a 2 card
affair. I entirely credit the ALC guys for that change as well. It was a common sense one,
that those famous ministerial ‘Advisors’ resisted for years. After seeing last week’s
racing results and the influx of new horses, plus the veterans, this year’s edition of the
Governor’s Plate looks to be outstanding. If the weather holds, 3 elims and a final with
talented and tough preferred ‘overnight’ horses, plus the usual great line up of race cards
through the week, should make this year’s version of Lobster Carnival racing one of the
best.
-------------------------------------------------------Now about the all-stakes card at SRW; lots of input on HD about the issue, including
some from posters in other Maritime provinces and further afield. As you’ll have noted
there are those who will try to minimize the impact on the overnight horsemen up west,
and some even seem to imply they don’t count like the breeders do. But let’s consider –
everybody invests and everybody has to pay bills, the little guy just as much as the rich
man. This is nothing against the owners who race stake horses – they go where the
schedule says. However, SRW only has 29 race dates. You turn 3 of them over to allstake cards and 100 overnight horses are left out each time. That’s pretty tough on their
owners, with limited racing opportunities. And here’s a good question for off-Islanders
posting on HD; would you be happy if your home track was in a similar situation 3 or
more times a year and if it was the only one in your province getting treated like this? I
know the CDP guys wouldn’t be happy and they would be right. Like I said elsewhere,
there’d be blood on the ground, if they tried to do it in Charlottetown. I suspect the same
might be true of tracks elsewhere that some folks are posting from. As usual, it depends
on whose ox is being gored – if it’s not yours, why should you care? Minister Sheridan’s
‘Advisors’ seem to have their own agenda. They are primarily breeders and most live
within that famous 10 mile circle around Charlottetown. Since they don’t even race an
overnight horse for the most part, I don't understand why they call the shots on the
scheduling, purses and classification. SRW has proven, if properly supported, it can do
very well. There is no reason it should not have more race dates, preferred classes and
open trots. The government owns and runs the Harness Racing industry on PEI. That
means the taxpayer foots the bill and takes the profit or loss in the end. It also means that
horse people, who are also taxpayers, have the right to expect equal treatment. Some day
Wes Sheridan and his ‘Advisors’ are going to have to face that fact.
-----------------------------------------------Heard some good stories this week in the aftermath of the Walter Dale at Fredericton.
The kinds of things that drive horsemen crazy:
First you’ll have seen that the 10,000 posts guy is all over the board, knocking Chris
Connors and worrying about the lack of ambulance services when Barrieau went down.
On that score, it’s been pretty well proven by now that service was available in a timely
manner and that this was just another chronic cry for attention from the dope.
Interestingly enough though, a nurse was on the scene to attend Gilles almost
immediately. I’m told Marshall Goodwin grabbed a golf cart and took her down the track
right away. Funny part is - the paddock judge fined him $100 and then made Gilles walk
back to the barns. Common sense prevailed however and the MPHRC cancelled the fine.
If true and my source is pretty good about these things, it’s kind of a sad commentary on
priorities. I’m also hearing the powers-that-be were hoping the track record wouldn’t be
broken in the Walter Dale – they wanted to promote that attempt again next year! LOL!
Also, even though folks were complaining about the foot high grass in the Winner’s
Circle, I’m told management saw no need to cut it. Said it looked fine.
Finally on a more positive note, the guys in Freddy say the money has been found to fix
the lights. Apparently HRNB has gotten some quotes and are sifting through them.
-----------------------------------------------------------As you may have noticed I get lots and lots of ‘love’ letters online and off.
Unfortunately some of my greatest admirers fail to sign their names – so I don’t know
who to thank. Many of them are seemingly obsessed with a guy who writes for a small
town newspaper, which they claim nobody much reads. Oh yeah and I also write this blog
– which again my critics claim is not of interest to anyone. Except perhaps folks in PEI
government offices, who we know check it out regularly. Thing is, I could write turgid,
rah- rah, pablum-like prose about my friends and family in racing – but that puts most
folks to sleep and it’s been done. I’d rather write candid, sometimes controversial
commentary, that stirs folks up and gets a conversation going. If it punctures some
balloons in the process, so much the better. Surprisingly, even with my ‘small and so called uninterested readership’, the owners are willing to pay me for my puny efforts.
And folks actually demanded that I make them available outside of PEI – hence Maritime
Classics. Quelle surprise!
------------------------------------------------------I’m travelling next week and while the column will be here, I’m not sure about Post
Scripts. We’ll do our best.