Lady Cafe Au Lait eases well clear of rivals

CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – Lady Cafe Au Lait delivered a commanding performance in the featured Fillies and Mares Preferred 1 Thursday evening at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.

Sent off as the overwhelming favourite in the $6,000 feature, Lady Cafe Au Lait ($2.10) controlled every step of the mile for driver Paul Langille and trainer Earl Watts. The four-year-old daughter of Big Jim blasted to the front from post 1, carved out fractions of 29.2, 57.4 and 1:27.3, then widened her advantage through the stretch to score by 11-and-a-half lengths in 1:55.3 over a track rated two-seconds off for owners Windemere Farms, Matt Burke and David Burke. Sugar Bowl (Driven by David O’Brien) rallied for second while Sweet Molly (Gilles Barrieau) completed the triactor.

LADY CAFE AU LAIT REPLAY

The biggest upset of the night came in race 5 as Twin B Solitaire ($78.60) shocked the field at 38-1 with Ryan Desroche steering for trainer Vaughan Doyle and owners Amanda and Barry MacTavish of Belfast.

Defending Dash Title Champion Marc Campbell snagged three wins on the card to move into a tie with Corey MacPherson for second-place in the driving standings at 15 wins on the season. The Orwell driver has won the driving title at Red Shores Charlottetown the past 16 seasons but is trailing current 2026 leader Gilles Barrieau, who has 24 wins so far this season.

Campbell’s Thursday wins came with Redland Rayne ($2.10) as part of a Watts training double in 2:03, Galway Girl ($5.00) in race 9 for trainer Landon Campbell in 2:00.3 and in the finale with EA Hazel ($6.70) for trainer Brendan Mullen in 2:02.1.

Mullen doubled up on the evening with Howmac Dixie ($11.60) and driver Desroche in 2:00.3.

Adam Merner also scored a double as a trainer-driver winning race 6 with Tobins Brownie ($7.10) in 1:58 and race 11 with Lady Llamrei ($8.20) in 2:00.1.

Live racing continues Saturday evening at 6 P.M., at Red Shores Charlottetown. For more go to Redshores.ca.

For complete race results, click here.

by Nicholas Oakes, for Red Shores