Charlottetown Driving Park: Guardian Gold Cup & Saucer goes to Rock Diamonds

Rock Diamonds, a New Zealand import, overcame an overland trip with some slick navigating on the last turn and a passing lane rally to win the C$60,000 Guardian Gold Cup & Saucer for older pacers on Saturday night at Charlottetown Driving Park.

Bet On Brett (Louis-Philippe Roy) did the early pacemaking, chopping out fractions of 26 3/5 and 54 1/5 with Sir Pugsley (Jason Hughes) sitting second and Bettors Fire (Ron Cushing) in third. Meanwhile, eventual winner Rock Diamonds and driver Mitch Cushing took back to sixth and tracked the parked cover of Lisburn (Ken Arsenault).

Going to the 1:23 2/5 three-quarters Bet On Brett began to backpedal and Sir Pugsley went around him, leaving Bettors Fire first-up and defending race winner Somewhere Fancy (Simon Allard) second-over. The closers further back began to fan out at that point, but Rock Diamonds got around the traffic and then was able to find a slot on the inside on the final bend.

In the lane Sir Pugsley was all-out trying to hold off Somewhere Fancy, but the passing lane became available for Rock Diamonds, and once he had that room, he surged by the leaders on his way to the win by a length and three-quarters in 1:51 4/5. Somewhere Fancy finished second, and Lisburn was third.

"He's an amazing horse. As soon as he got any gap whatsoever, he just absolutely exploded," said the winning driver. "He couldn't have raced any better; it was all him. I really thought my dad was going to step around Sir Pugsley, and I'd get a nice spot because it'd open up, but they all left out of there real hard, so I just took back. After that you've just to go with instinct, and what you see with the other horses as they're running out of gas and whatnot. When you're fifth-over and you've got one of the best horses in the race, everyone's instinct is to pull the right line, but you've just got to find the best spot possible and hopefully it works out.

"I've spent a lot of time chasing him around at Plainridge, so I know how handy he is and how fast he can go. When he was going 1:50 he had the plugs in just sitting there. He's no joke."

As is the case with most participants who get to drive in the Gold Cup & Saucer, Cushing came away impressed with the spectacle and the racing.

"I thought Fryeburg (Maine) Fair was pretty cool, but this is completely different," he offered. "This is like what you see at a professional sports game, and they're here for the horses and the racing. They're not just here because it's somewhere to sit and have a snack."

A 6-year-old Rocknroll Hanover gelding, Rock Diamonds is trained by Heidi Gibbs for owners Kevin Sywyk, Ron Cushing, and Frank Ranaldi. This was his 24th career win, and he has now earned C$282,362. Sent off at 5-1, he paid $12.80 to win.