Fresh off of having broken his own single-season driving record at Red Shores’ Charlottetown Driving Park, horseman Marc Campbell has spoken to the CBC about the feat. Campbell has stated that even though he approached the goal with a different mindset this go ‘round, he is still somewhat relieved that he has gotten the new feat out of the way.
"The first time I broke it (the Charlottetown Driving Park driving record) I felt a lot of pressure,” Campbell said. “This year I just kind of went with it, I'm a little bit older now, if it worked, it worked."
Campbell notched his 131st driving victory of the 2016 CDP season on Saturday, December 10 with Freddie, a charge from his operation that nailed the wire in 2:01.1. "He's won a lot of races for me, he helped me get the record," said Campbell. "So to win it with him was pretty special."
Campbell, who is glad the record watch is over, told the CBC that, "It's good to get it over with," adding, “I was kind of reaching for it and the last few cards made it harder, I didn't have a great lineup and I drew bad. We got it done this week."
Saturday’s record-breaking win was also Campbell’s 200th Maritimes driving victory of the season, which was personal goal of the O’Brien Award winning horseman.
"That's what I set my goal at, after Old Home Week," said Campbell. "It all just happened in the same win to break my record and set 200, so that was cool."
(With files from the CBC)