Sunday Preferreds Are Swept By Archer Trainees At Rideau

On Sunday, April 21, the leading trainer at Rideau Carleton Raceway, Mandy Archer, continued to be dominant for the 2024 season as she swept both $10,000 Preferreds with Meadowbranch Noble and P L Ozzy on the 11-race program.

The final race of the evening was the Preferred Trot, where Archer and Guy Gagnon rode together on the 1-9 favourite Meadowbranch Noble. Gagnon, who was given the fifth outside post, hurried Meadowbranch Noble out of the gate but soon found that Donatover and Robert Robinson had no intent on taking a seat. Gagnon's :28.2 first quarter nestled the bettors` choice into the pocket.

By the halfway point in :57.2, the top two separated themselves from the rest of the field. With the throttle set to three-quarters, Donatover held his ground and kept leading to that station while Meadowbranch Noble surged ahead from second place in 1:26.3.

Gagnon would stop sitting on the last curve and pop the pocket to engage the leader who was only a half-length behind him as he turned to head home. Donatover persisted in his lane strategy, requiring the Meadowbranch Noble to use every foot of the stretch in order to get ahead of the wire in 1:56.4. Robert Shepherd and Ima Standup Guy completed the triad.

After arriving at Rideau Carleton on March 24, Meadowbranch Noble had won three times in a row as of 2024. The seven-year-old gelded son of Explosive Matter-Wen Mars Memo, owned by Jamie Copley, has already earned $245,249 in his career.

In the Preferred Pace, Pascal Berube took over the bike for Archer and led P L Ozzy to victory. After emerging from post four in the field of six, P L Ozzy took the lead with Berube's encouragement after a swift first quarter of :27.4.

Berube applied the brakes in :57 while Stephane Pouliot and Shotgun Jerry were content to sit in the pocket. The pace quickened on the backstretch as Guy Gagnon and The Light Speed moved from last to third place, uncovered, in 1:25, with P L Ozzy attempting to give the field the slip.

Two lengths ahead of the field ready to go the distance, P L Ozzy spun out of the last bend. The Light Speed persisted in his charge, but P L Ozzy showed he was a formidable leader, winning by a length in 1:53.4 after pacing home in :28.4. For third place, Shotgun Jerry was the dominant player.

It was P L Ozzy's first win of 2024; he had finished second in his two previous races this season. The six-year-old son of Sunshine Beach's Taylorlane Action is owned by Jody Sanderson, Michael McKenna, Darren Smith, and Dean Larkin. He has won 21 times in his career and amassed $239,737 in total earnings.