Canada's newest racetrack, The Loop, will open with its first live card of harness racing this Saturday, Aug. 5 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
A card full of nine races is set to go to the gate starting at 2 p.m. CDT to launch the highly-anticipated inaugural season at the half-mile oval, which is located at the Red River Exhibition.
The featured event on Saturday's season opener will be the seventh race, with a purse of $4,200, for Open mares and conditioned pacers.
Manitoba's top pacing mare I Will Do It headlines the field of five as she comes to The Loop off a perfect mini-meet at Miami Fair where she won three straight Distaff Open events for trainer Trevor Williams and owners Adam Mace, of Altona, Michael Williams of Winnipeg and Aurel Vodon, Virden, Manitoba. Blake Piwniuk will be back in the sulky and looking to continue the eight-year-old Camluck mare's win streak when she leaves from her assigned starting spot in post four. She will start just outside of stablemate Lil Screamer, owned by Mace and driven by Michel Rey.
The only male pacer in the field, Vladimir Kreker's homebred Tagoras gets the nod as the slight favourite on the morning line at odds of 2-1 coming off three consecutive runner-up finishes at Miami, including two against Open company. The seven-year-old son of El Toro has been ordered outside of the mares in post five and trainer Clayton Braybook has enlisted Darryl Mason to drive as he will be aboard his last-out winner Tami Blue in post two.
Vodon's Pure Addition, twice a bridesmaid to I Will Do It in their recent starts, completes the field and gets the inside post for the driving and training team of Tyler and Jacqueline Grundy.
After weather and construction delays postponed a 2022 opening of The Loop, officials with Red River Exhibition and the local harness racing community are excited for the expansion of the sport in Manitoba beyond its current rural footprint.
“After years of work and lots of frustration, we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with racing starting this weekend," Garth Rogerson, CEO of the Red River Exhibition Association, told Trot Insider. "While I am sure we will have lots of bugs to work out, it is finally happening.”
The Loop is scheduled to race every Saturday from Aug. 5 to Oct. 28 with a special race date set for Sunday, Sept. 3. Post time for August and September race dates is set for 2 p.m. while post time for the October race dates is scheduled for 1 p.m.
To view Saturday's complete harness racing entries, click one of the following links: The Loop - Saturday Entries || Program Pages (courtesy TrackIT)