The Standardbred Canada co-sponsored Atlantic Aged Mares Pacing Series will continue Saturday (July 23) at Truro Raceway, as a field of eight has been drawn to face the starting gate and duke it out for a $6,040 purse.
The first leg of the series was contested on June 19 at Summerside Raceway, and the opening round saw Ramblinglily add her name to the track record book, as she stopped the clock in 1:54.4 and equalled the track record for aged pacing mares.
Saturday’s lone Leg 2 dash has been programmed as Race 9 on Truro’s 10-dash card. First-race post time is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the card also includes the $7,500 Exhibition Cup Invitational (Race 10). Atlantic Sires Stakes splits also fill the card, as does the $4,500 final of the Wilsons Home Heating Fillies And Mares Series Final.
Shadows Mystery (PP1, G. Barrieau, 5-2) has been pegged as the morning line favourite for the Atlantic Aged Mares Pacing Series dash. The five-year-old daughter of Shadow Play appears to be coming into the race in pretty good form, as she has finished either first or second in her last six starts. All of those starts have come for her new trainer, Jackie Matheson, in the Maritimes. The filly started racing out of Matheson’s outfit in late May – she had been previously been racing in Ontario.
Shadows Mystery’s last two chart lines show that she has been able to race overland quite competitively. Prior to those races, the filly started from the rail in a Fillies and Mares Open at the Charlottetown Driving Park (on June 25), where she recorded a gate-to-wire victory in 1:55. Shadows Mystery is owned by Gordon Ford of Yoho, NB.
Ramblinglily (PP5, C. Cheverie, 3-1) has been installed as the slight second choice on the morning line for trainer Allan Jones, who co-owns along with fellow breeder Normand Leger of Shediac, NB.
Ramblinglily, a six-year-old Articulator mare, has been nothing short of sensational for her connections, and her career slate speaks for itself. Seventy-three starts, 41 wins, and she has only ever missed the board on nine occasions. Ramblinglily’s bankroll is currently resting at $133,869, but, if her current racing trend indicates anything, there is a good chance that will be increasing on Saturday. She has finished either first or second in her last 11 starts, and one would have to go back to her November 14, 2015 race line to see the last time she wasn’t the bride or the bridesmaid.
The rest of the field for the Atlantic Aged Mares Pacing Series tilt is not filled with slouches, either. It is led by veteran Cammibest nine-year-old Best Risque (PP4, J. Hughes, 7-2), who has been right there with the top mares in the Maritimes as of late. The career winner of 53 races and over $222,000 in purses is trained by Brian Ladner for co-owners Lillian Ladner and Kevin Ladner, all of whom are from Charlottetown, P.E.I.