Harness: Trip of a lifetime

“You have to get there!”

“You MUST go there!”

For years and years, friends, colleagues and horsemen have all said this to me countless times about the biggest race in the Canadian Maritimes – the Gold Cup & Saucer, which is held annually at Charlottetown Driving Park on Prince Edward Island.

I had always wanted to go, but for various reasons, like cost, vacation time availability, etc., I had never made it, and honestly thought I never would. But thankfully, due to some strange circumstances, I made it this year for the August 22 spectacular, and now I am going to be one of the faithful screaming from the rooftop: “YOU HAVE TO GET THERE!”

(Column aside: A really good time to get there would be next year for Old Home Week, when the World Driving Championship will be contested the night before the Gold Cup & Saucer).

The genesis of this trip was a simple phone call between my son Nicholas, more commonly known in the industry as “Ace”, and our buddy Edison Hatter, the all-world media personality that has probably already done it all in harness racing even though he hasn’t reached his 28th birthday yet.

When Ace finished the phone call and emerged from his bedroom, I asked him what Edison wanted. He mentioned a few trivial things that I honestly don’t recall, followed by “and he mentioned a road trip to the Gold Cup & Saucer.” I was like, “wait…what??” My initial thought after investigating the distance and discovering we were in for a 16-hour drive each way was that I was reluctant to go. That was until Ace said to me, “Ed says he will pick us up at home and do all the driving, and we can share all the costs.” I took a glance at my wife, and she gave an approving look, probably happy to get rid of me again not long after our annual Hambletonian trip. I was in!

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“LET’S GO!” I exclaimed. And so it began.

Edison might just have a screw loose for offering to drive from Maryland to Toronto to P.E.I., but I wasn’t going to say no if all I had to do was sit in the backseat and not miss a beat while working on the Woodbine Mohawk Park Horseplayer’s Journal.

We set out Wednesday morning (Aug. 19) with the goal of getting to the track for the Thursday-night card. We probably miscalculated how far we should go before stopping for the night, because we chose Moncton in New Brunswick, which was only two hours from our destination.

One of the highlights of Wednesday night’s drive was watching (via livestream) Woodmere Rock It, a 2-year-old gelding that I own 10 percent of through TheStable.ca, race at Charlottetown Driving Park. He lined up behind the gate to race in the PEI Colt Stakes Gold with a perfect five-for-five record coming off a track-record breaking performance at Summerside Raceway. With The Stable’s CEO Anthony Macdonald in the bike, Woodmere Rock It survived a first turn scare where he got steppy to smash the all-time Maritimes 2-year-old record and tie the Canadian record for a 2-year-old male pacer over a half-mile track, dominating his rivals in 1:52 4/5. His outstanding effort earned him three tenth-place votes in the weekly Hambletonian Society Top 10 poll. I can only speak for one of those votes. It was unfortunate I couldn’t make it for the race, but I’m already booked for a return trip on Atlantic Breeders Crown night the first weekend in October.

After a few meal and rest breaks, combined with rain and traffic jams, we didn’t arrive at our hotel in Moncton until just before 4 a.m., and when we tried to check in there seemed to be some confusion regarding our room. We followed the front desk host to our supposed lodgings, where she knocked on the door several times to make sure it was empty. To our surprise, and hers too, a middle-aged man opened the door. The hotel host seemed dumbfounded, and she blurted out, “hi, what is your name?” The poor dude in Room 415 replied “Will,” and we all left.

The hotel room was in Edison’s name, so he went back downstairs with the clerk and returned about 15 minutes later proclaiming, “They only had one room left, it’s an upgrade to a Jacuzzi room.” We entered the room and noticed it only had one bed and the Jacuzzi, and we all laughed and made several jokes that will stay in that room. Ed offered to sleep on the hard floor, mentioning that he “does it all the time.” Ace and I shared the King bed. Ed ended up getting $100 back for the room confusion, but all we could think about was that poor Will had as much if not more reason to be angry as we did.

Thursday morning came and I finished off a Journal before we headed out for the bridge to the island. We would have a couple of hours to kill before we could check into the home that we rented for the weekend. We made it onto the Island and decided to stop for some lunch. Islander MacDonald, who won the Gold Cup & Saucer in 2022 with Sintra, recommended Maid Marian’s Diner, where they supposedly made the best steak sandwich. I can tell you that the three of us all ordered it, and we agreed wholeheartedly — it was amazing! There are so many good places to eat on the island that I would need to write a separate column to feature all of them.

We arrived at the track for the Thursday night card and picked up some press passes that Red Shores Racing Manager Lee Drake had left for us at the entrance. We bet a few races, lost a few bucks, and hung out with Hall of Famer Wally Hennessey, who invited us all to watch the Gold Cup Parade from his house Friday morning. I didn’t make it because I was busy working, but Ace and Ed did, and they said they had a great time and were treated with the famous island hospitality that we experienced everywhere we went. Debbie Little told us before we left that Islanders are the nicest people in the world. Everything that we experienced up to that point only confirmed that statement, and the trip still had plenty of meat remaining on the bone.

On Friday night, we took in the racing card, and I got to visit Woodmere Rock It on the backside, where I met fellow owner Trevor Frizell and his dad. I was happy to find out that my gelding is a sweetheart that likes attention.

Saturday morning, we were up early and excited not only because it was Gold Cup & Saucer day, but also because there was a double header starting at noon! We watched the afternoon program from various points on the track from where we could shoot videos and share them on social media, and we left a couple of races early to walk to a restaurant named Famous Peppers for dinner. Once again, both the food and service were tremendous.

When we returned to the racetrack, I walked into the casino because I knew they had self-serve betting machines and I wanted to punch a ticket on the Isle Pick 5 that began in race 1. Something compelled me to stop at the roulette table, where I threw $20 down and asked for $10 each on 6 and 10, my birthday (October 6). Edison foolishly bet $50 on red, and I told him he was going to lose because 6 and 10 are both black numbers. Lo and behold, that little ball dropped right into number 10! I decided with part of my $350 profit to add $20 to the money we were going to play on that night’s 50/50 draw. We had already committed to buying $80 worth of tickets because we knew it would be a packed house and a big pot (more on that later).

Lee Drake couldn’t have treated us any better that weekend, and it was a godsend that he provided us with seats in the Red Shores corporate box for that evening’s card, because this 61-year-old body doesn’t do too well packed in like a sardine at this stage of my life.

My good fortune continued in race two when I hit a $10 Tri with 14-year-old Moonwriter on top. It paid an incredible $70 for $2, with the 5-2 winner over the 1-9 second choice over the third choice in a five-horse field.

As the night progressed, I remembered that I hadn’t yet bought the 50/50 tickets, and I saw a seller walking on the apron below. When my good son Ace offered to go buy them, I obliged. Just as they were about to start the post parade for the Gold Cup & Saucer – which is itself a spectacle as they turn the place dark and spotlight each horse – they called the winning 50/50 number. Seven digits that I will never forget: 3...2…7...8...8...4...5.

We had five strips of eighty numbers and as expected, we didn’t even get the 3 and 2 on any of the first four. For drama, I revealed the last ticket one number at a time starting from the left. First column of 40 numbers, nada. Now I say: “Come on, let us at least get the 3 and 2, which we do. This is gonna be interesting if we have the 7,” I blurt out. There it is. At this point, astute Ace can see through to the last four numbers because I am covering one ticket with another and they are translucent. “WE GOT IT!” he exclaims, and I quickly reveal the 8, 8, 4 and 5. We yelled so loud that it created a murmur among the several thousand below us on the apron.

I was directed to a small wooden building to claim our prize and when I walked in there were four people counting stacks and stacks of money. I was told they needed more time. “No problem, I’ll see you after the race, thank you,” I replied.

The Gold Cup & Saucer itself was a thrilling renewal, with second choice Fifth And Five prevailing in a track-record equaling 1:49 4/5 for Jody Jamieson, who indicated in his post-race interview just how important this race is to Islanders. “I’m beside myself,” Jamieson said in the winner’s circle. “I literally can’t believe I won the Gold Cup & Saucer. This is the culmination of a whole life of driving horses and being in the horse business. Everybody wants to win this race.”

One person in the crowd that was almost as happy as the winning driver was Standardbred Canada President and CEO Darryl Kaplan, who bred the winner and watched the race with us. He initiated a round of high fives at the wire, then disappeared to head for the winner’s circle. I also disappeared to go claim our 50/50 draw loot and I returned with $14,940.

To cap our night and trip off, we were seen on the CTV National news across Canada in a brief shot celebrating after Moonwriter’s win.

Needless to say, our trip back probably didn’t seem as long as it might have if Edison’s Mercedes SUV wasn’t loaded down with cash. We made a couple of casino stops on the way, won a little, lost a little, nothing consequential.

The lasting impression for me was the famous “Island hospitality.” Debbie Little was right. From even before we arrived, with Lee Drake and his crew taking care of us, to Wally Hennessey opening up his home to us, to Woodmere Rock It’s trainer Jamie Smith finding me a limited edition hat, we could not have been treated any better. It was one of the best road trips of my 61-year-long life, and of course leaving that island with close to 15 grand and owning a colt that tied a Canadian record sure didn’t hurt.