Carbine and Louis-Philippe Roy weren't a tandem on Saturday (Aug. 5) at Woodbine Mohawk Park, but they share the marquee after outstanding performances on the evening card.
He's a sibling to Heston Blue Chip and Sunfire Blue Chip, so Carbine definitely has the licence to be a top pacer. He's shown flashes of brilliance before during his 54-race career, and he showed it again on Saturday night in lifetime start no. 55 against five rivals in the $36,000 Free For All Pace.
With Phil Hudon at the controls, Carbine left assertively from post six and made the top over forwardly-placed Poseidon Seelster (Sylvain Filion). Carbine put that pedigree on display, breezing through fractions of :26.2, :54.2 and 1:21.3 before a dazzling :26.1 kicker to trip the timer in 1:47.4, pacing back to his life's mark taken a year ago as a four-year-old. Last week's Preferred winner Momas Son Byrne (Jonathan Drury) rallied for the place position over Poseidon Seelster.
Owned by breeder Let It Ride Stables Inc. along with Bottom Line Racing LLC of Boca Raton, Fl. and Howard Taylor of Philadelphia, Pa., Carbine (Somebeachsomewhere - Shot Togo Bluechip) picked up his 19th career win and lifted his earnings over the $300,000 mark. Tony Alagna handles the training on Carbine, who paid $7.80 to win.
Before the ninth race feature, driver Louis-Philippe Roy was having himself a night with a lot of visits to track photographer Clive Cohen. Roy found the winner's circle five times — for five different trainers — on the Saturday card, winning races two through four and then going back-to-back in races seven and eight. His winners included Coop A Loop (1:51.2, $22.00), Beyond Better (1:49.1, $7.50), Powered By Mach (1:50.2, $5.10) and then Powertrain (1:48.4, $12.10) and Better B Bold (1:49.3, $3.30).
A three-time O'Brien Award winner, Roy ranks in the top five in the nation in both wins (174) and earnings ($3,188,912) in Canada this year.
To view the results from the Saturday card of harness racing at Woodbine Mohawk Park, click the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.