Windemere Skye extended her perfect career record to 24 victories while Stunning Speed rewrote the track record book on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 4 during the Atlantic Breeders Crown Weekend of Champions at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
The 14-dash program featured eight Atlantic Breeders Crown championship finals worth a combined $300,000 in purses. The Weekend of Champions was presented by the Prince Edward Island Standardbred Horse Owners Association.
Defending Atlantic Breeders Crown champion Windemere Skye ($2.10) made it 24 straight victories with a commanding score in the $50,000 three-year-old pacing filly final in race 12. Marc Campbell sent the Earl Watts trainee to the front from post seven and carved out splits of :27.2, :56.2 and 1:25 before closing in 28 seconds for the 1:53 victory. Alwaysinfullforce (Ken Murphy) finished 4-1/4 lengths back in second with Mattnificent Rose (Paul Langille) third.
The Somewhere Fancy-Howmac Missy filly is owned by breeder Windemere Farms of Springvale, P.E.I. and partner Matt Burke of Stratford, P.E.I. She is now unbeaten in 12 starts this season after a perfect 12-race rookie campaign and boasts career earnings of $241,893. Windemere Skye now sits just four races shy of the all-time pacing win streak of 28 straight wins co-held by Cam Fella and Firms Phantom.
Woodmere Rock It ($2.30) continued his undefeated season in the $50,000 two-year-old pacing colt and gelding final in race 10, winning his 10th straight race. Gilles Barrieau guided the Jamie Smith-trained son of Tobago Cays-Musette Mindale through fractions of :27.4, :56.4 and 1:25.1 before stopping the clock in 1:54.2, finishing 7-3/4 lengths ahead of Woodmere Dougal (Corey MacPherson). The winner’s stablemate, Woodmere Fergus (Jason Hughes), completed the triactor.
Woodmere Rock It, who has banked more than $90,000 lifetime, is owned by TheStable WoodmereRock It of Guelph, Ont.
The $50,000 two-year-old pacing filly final in race eight went to Starship Daisy ($7.40) in 1:57.2 with Ken Murphy catch-driving. Another Atlantic Breeders Crown champion trained by Earl Watts, the Somewhere Fancy-Romance In Camelot filly prevailed by a quarter-length over late leader Lady Of Malice (Paul Langille), with her stablemate Ys Fancy Speed (Gilles Barrieau) third.
Sitting third along the pylons through fractions of :27.3, :57.2 and 1:26.4 before her favoured stablemate Sheeowtime Speed (Marc Campbell) broke stride on the lead causing interference to others, Starship Daisy got up in time to score the victory, her sixth in 10 starts.
Starship Daisy is now a career winner of nearly $85,000 who has finished no worse than second in her career for owner Francis Poirier of Havre-Aux-Maisons, Que.
Zero Two Sixty ($2.90) capped the championship action in the $50,000 three-year-old pacing colt and gelding final in race 14.
Ken Murphy drove for a stakes double, working the Sifroi Melanson trainee into contention from post seven before wearing down pacesetter Shekhan (Redmond Doucet) by three-quarters of a length in a career-best 1:53.2. Shekhan settled for second after leading through fractions of :27.2, :55.4 and 1:24.4. Smilin With Lou (Adam Merner) was third.
The Tobago Cays-J J Mistress gelding, who finished third by half a length in last year’s Atlantic Breeders Crown, earned his fifth straight win and is now 13-for-29 lifetime with earnings totalling $154,087 for Melanson’s Ultimate Stable of Greater Lakeburn, N.B.
Trainer/driver Mike McGuigan and Prince Edward Island owners Josh MacDonald of Little Pond and The Coles Stable of Charlottetown swept the two-year-old trotting championships with Muscle Through It sired filly Rockin Through It and colt Stunning Speed, who showed stunning speed with a track record performance.
Stunning Speed ($3.20) delivered a record-setting performance in the $25,000 two-year-old trotting colt and gelding final in race five. He commanded the mile through fractions of :29.1, :58.4 and 1:28.2 before drawing clear by 4-1/2 lengths in 1:57.3. The clocking lowered the Charlottetown two-year-old trotting track record by a full second from Southwind Arturo’s 1:58.3 time set in 2021. Shoe Dog Speed (Paul Langille) finished second with Hopthroughit (Clare MacDonald) third.
Rebounding from a miscue in his last start, Stunning Speed is now eight-for-nine competing solely in stakes competition. The colt out of the Walner mare Stunning Look was a $29,000 Atlantic Classic Yearling Sale purchase last October and has earned $56,941 so far in his career.
The same connections also captured the $25,000 two-year-old trotting filly final in race two with Rockin Through It ($3.90), who led through fractions of :29.4, 1:00 and 1:30.4 en route to a 2:01.3 career-best triumph, winning by seven lengths over Early Speed (Myles Heffernan Sr.) and Howmac Limerick (Jason Hughes).
The filly out of the Muscle Mass mare Rockadero notched her third straight win and improved to four wins in 10 starts overall while lifting her lifetime earnings to $42,519.
Defending Atlantic Breeders Crown trotting champion Little Louis ($2.10) dominated the $25,000 three-year-old colt and gelding final in race four for his 10th win in a row for driver Corey MacPherson, trainer Kuri White and East Coast Captains of Cornwall, P.E.I.
The homebred E L Rocket-Go With Her gelding clocked panels of :29.3, :59 and 1:28.2 before drawing away from his competition by 8-1/4 lengths for the career-best 1:57.1 victory. Hoponarocket (Mike McGuigan) finished second with Howmac Prime Time (Marc Campbell) third.
Little Louis now boasts 20 career wins and two seconds from 22 starts with earnings totalling $157,304.
Emberlees Rocket ($10), a runner-up to Little Louis in the Atlantic Breeders Crown mixed trot final last year, upset the $25,000 three-year-old filly final in race seven for driver Marc Campbell and trainer John Clarey. The E L Rocket-Malahide filly got a pocket trip through first-half fractions of :29 and :59.3 and took command before the 1:30.1 three-quarter pole before going on to win by 2-3/4 lengths in 2:01 over Bonmati (Corey MacPherson), with Dusty Lane Margo (Jason Hughes) third.
A homebred for Mike Clarey of Montague, P.E.I., Emberlees Rocket now has two wins to go along with 10 other top three finishes in her 15 career starts, with earnings just shy of $50,000.
To view Sunday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results – Charlottetown Driving Park.
(With files from Red Shores; photo clockwise from top left of Atlantic Breeders Crown winners Windemere Skye, Woodmere Rock It, Little Louis and Stunning Speed)