Red Shores: Sintra routs rivals in Gold Cup & Saucer

Sintra took over command heading to three-quarters and never looked back from there in winning the 63rd edition of the C$100,000 Atlantic Lottery Cup & Saucer for older pacers on Saturday night at Red Shores Charlottetown.

Starting from a trailing post nine, Sintra got away well in third and watched as Patrikthepiranha A (Wally Hennessey) left out Ideal Perception (Austin Sorrie) before finally releasing him nearing the 26 1/5 opening quarter. Ideal Perception stayed in the lead from there and got to the half in 54 1/5, but MacDonald had Sintra out and moving before that marker went on the board.

Sintra would pace around Ideal Perception with little dispute en route to the 1:22 3/5 three-quarters, got separation on the rest of the field after he hit the front, and went on to score by 5 1/2 lengths in 1:50 1/5, matching Ys Lotus's track record. No Plan Intended (Jody Jamieson) was second, followed by Rhodena Road (Brett MacDonald). Patrikthepiranha A, who was the favorite, broke stride as the field raced in the backstretch for the final time and wound up finishing ninth.

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"He's such a classy horse," remarked MacDonald. "I think he enjoyed this as much as I did, to be honest."

A member of thestable.ca group and owned on a fractional basis, Sintra had a large contingent to greet him in the winner's circle.

"It's important that everybody recognizes the importance of fractional ownership and what it represents for the future of our industry, and I think you don't need to look any further than the winner's circle to see that," MacDonald stated.

Jamie Smith trains Sintra, a 9-year-old Mach Three gelding. This was his 41st career victory, he pushed his earnings to C$1,573,807, and paid $5.70 to win as the 9-5 second choice.