Big weekend for Panthers

Therealprincess sold to Frank Brundle after incredible 2022 season

The 2022 live racing season continues in full swing on P.E.I. with programs on Dec. 3 and 4 at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park.

The $4,000 Autumn Series final for five-year-olds and younger has a full field with Diamond Call the morningline favourite from the dreaded Post 8. Adam Merner drives the pacer for trainer Melissa Rennie and owners Dale and Ronnie Rennie of Elmsdale.

Diamond Call was a winner in elimination action last week over one of the sloppiest tracks seen during the 2022 racing season.

The preferred pace features an unbelievable competitive group with another evenlymatched field of six lining up Dec. 4. Navalny narrowly hung on in last week’s $3,500 matchup against a hard-closing Stash It Away with those two having Posts 6 and 5, respectively, this week.

Opening post time for both cards is 12:30 p.m.

ATLANTIC SCENE

Atlantic sensation Therealprincess has been sold to Frank Brundle of Ontario and will join the Carmen Auciello stable.

Brundle has been collecting the top Atlantic-bred pacers recently as he is in on the groups that purchased Atlantic record-holding 2021 graduates Woodmere Stealdeal and Mystifying.

Therealprincess, a daughter of Source Of Pride, was phenomenal in her sophomore campaign with 15 wins from 16 starts for the combination of driver Corey Macpherson and trainer Eddy Doucette. Doucette co-owned the $141,568 winner with fellow Kensington residents Gordon Macleod, Grant Mann, and breeder Blaine Thibeau.

Her only loss came in a second-place finish in the $25,000 Atlantic Breeders Crown final, when Tobins Diva sat on her back to claim the title of Atlantic Champion. One title no one can take from her is her $105,820 earnings record in a single season on the East Coast.

CANADA-WIDE

The national driving championship was held on Nov. 24 at Century Mile Racetrack in Edmonton with Ontario driver Doug Mcnair handily winning the competition to earn the right to represent Canada in the world driving championship in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany from Aug. 14 to 18, 2023. P.E.I. representative Marc Campbell won a dash of the competition but finished fifth overall while Gilles Barrieau was sixth in the eight-driver contest.

In second place was Cape Breton native Dave Kelly Jr., one of the leading trainer-drivers in Alberta harness racing.

Cape Breton native and recent Island resident Damian Maclellan has made the move to Ontario and is now employed with the Rob Fellows stable. Maclellan made his first Ontario drive a winning one for a $5,400 purse at The Raceway at Western Fair District on Nov. 25. The rookie recorded 22 wins in P.E.I. in 2021 before making the move.