CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Yankee Osborne served notice that he is coming for The Guardian Gold Cup and Saucer trophy after breaking the track record at the Truro Raceway Saturday night in Nova Scotia.
Sarah Jane Stables of Mono, Ont., acquired the five-year-old Yankee Cruiser pacer from the Ron Burke stable of Pennsylvania over the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) break and entrusted him to Ontario trainer Neil MacInnis, a native of Cape Breton, N.S., who subsequently took the horse east for the invitational season.
In Saturday evening’s $7,500 Lindsay Construction Cup Invitational, Yankee Osborne left from Post 1 in line to MacInnis. He controlled the entire race through splits of :28, :56 and 1:24.1 before closing out the mile in 1:52 to win over pocket-sitter Simple Kinda Man (Jason Hughes) and Rose Run Quest (Marc Campbell).
The win erased the overall track record of 1:52.1 set by Rose Run Quest in the 2019 Lindsay Construction Cup Invitational at the Bible Hill half-miler.
The evening also featured the three-year-old pacing colts in Atlantic Sires Stakes action with all three A divisions being won by Island horses.
Mr Kelly won the fastest $6,800 split in 1:54.3 for trainer Melissa Rennie, driver Adam Merner and owners Marsha Knox and Kyle and Wade MacDonald of Stanhope. Rennie and Merner also teamed up to win an A division with Windemere Ryan in 1:55 for High Five Racing Stable of Stanhope. Tobins Rebel also was victorious in sophomore action in 1:55.2 for trainer-driver Gilles Barrieau and owner Daniel Ross of Belfast.
P.E.I. winners
The Frank and Beth Stanfield Memorial was held July 17 at the Truro Raceway as part of Grand Circuit week racing with Island fillies winning all three of the $20,000 divisions for sophomores. Woodmere Skyroller won her split in 1:56.3 for driver Brodie MacPhee, trainer Kevin MacLean and owner Reg MacPherson of Stratford, while Red Dirt Star was a 1:56.4 victor in her split for trainer-driver Barrieau and owner Ross.
The fastest Stanfield split was claimed by Streakazana in 1:55.3 for trainer-driver Marc Campbell and the MCR Streakazana fractional ownership group of Charlottetown.
The stakes trail continues Saturday afternoon at Northside Downs in North Sydney, N.S., with the Atlantic Sires Stakes for two-year-old pacing colts in a pair of $9,160 divisions. The first split has a short field of four rookie pacers, including Island entrants Jadensmagicsteel (Merner) and Moneyorroses (Steven Shepherd).
The second split has a field of five with Island-owned Mr Rielly (Corey MacPherson) and Windemere Best Man (Merner) drawing the inside two spots.
Fillies and colts
The Nova Scotia Stake for two-year-old pacing fillies went Wednesday at Inverness Raceway with Little Miss Ava (Myles Heffernan Sr.) winning in 2:00.4. The Nova Scotia Stake for three-year-old pacing colts is today at Truro Raceway while Sunday has the Nova Scotia stake for three-year-old pacing fillies at Inverness Raceway.
Atlantic Dream Stable
Entries are closed for the first annual Atlantic Dream Stable competition where the entrant who picks the 12 horses with most money earned gets the grand prize of $1,000 at the end of the season. Sam Heffernan of Montague currently leads the field of 82 participants ahead of Kathy Furness and Brian MacPhee.
Nicholas Oakes’ column appears in The Guardian each Friday. He can be reached at [email protected].
