Dalhousie Dave: horse or robot?

Dalhousie Dave's winning performance in last night's Summertime Series Final has me wondering if he's not a robot disguised as a horse. Did you see the race? Horses just aren't supposed to be able to do what he did last night. Jody used him a little bit leaving, then came a long first-over into a :54.2 last half and still drove away from good horses like Outrageous Art and Dreamlands Art to win in 1:49.4! Wow! I can't figure out what his own last half was because I can't read the chart lines anymore, but I know that he was as good as a horse could be. Congratulations to Tony O'Sullivan and The Fielding Brothers, who are also the breeders of the Ontario-sired (Astreos) colt.

It was "Chalk or Bomb Night" at Flamboro on Friday. Five of the card's ten winners paid $4.60 or less while the other half of the races were taken by horses that paid $12.30, $14.80, $42.70, $51.40 and $78.70. Post time today is 1pm.

At Grand River, veterans Bill Megens and Art Craig both won races with trotters while Just A Lad earned his 45th lifetime win. Trevor Henry had the best night of all of the Elora track's drivers, yielding a 3-2-2 record from his ten drives.

I don't know what you've got planned for tonight, but you should be making the trek to Georgian Downs in Innisfil, Ontario for this year's Gold Rush card. Four Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series Finals, four Masters Series Finals and more than $1,000,000 in purses. The weather is supposed to be great and the atmosphere will be second to none. See you there!

THE PETE SHEETS' Meadowlands Pace Picks:

Race 4 - Planned Post Time 8:00pm
6-ROCK N ROLL HEAVEN...back at home track, in a great spot tactically.
7-ALL SPEED HANOVER...choked (literally) in NA Cup, he can bounce back.
3-ONE MORE LAUGH...no chance at Mohawk, as dangerous as any from covered trip.

Race 5 - Planned Post Time 8:20pm
2-ROCKIN IMAGE...as good as ever right now, Jersey Cup win was freakish.
3-IDEAL MATTERS...a better horse than most of these, lone threat to Takter trainee.
4-NOVA ARTIST...Pena power.

Race 6 - Planned Post Time 8:40pm
7-FRED AND GINGER...Palone's last two drives have been just plain awful.
5-SPORTSWRITER...obviously capable but ridiculously overbet tonight.
6-IAM BONASERA...2nd-time Jamieson, favourable dynamics, longshot potential.

Some other races of interest for you Weekend Warriors:

Flamboro - Race 3
Please, please, please don't get sucked in on 1-MR STRUT today! His win of last week was a dynamics win as he was in the right place at the right time when he took over from a recently useless Lifestream Mindale. He got the jump on the field in the third quarter, a headstart that he needed because he ended up walking the last eighth and narrowly holding off the free-too-late 8-DREAMDROP HANOVER. If you didn't go to the wedding last week (14-1), why go to the funeral today? I'm not sure which of these will win, but I know I don't want anything to do with 1-MR STRUT, nor should you!

Flamboro - Race 5
2-TEAM MATE is one-dimensional sort with an aversion to winning, but he drops to a new low today and his need-to-lead-to-win preference should be satisfied. I'm never a fan of favourites, but this looks like a "can't lose" situation for him. Use 1-KEYSTONE BEST BET, 3-LORELEI HANOVER, 5-MAPLE RUN DELIGHT, 6-KG WEAPON and 8-FBS GAL underneath.

Flamboro - Race 10
You can suit yourself, but I always like a fresh face in these restricted claiming races for mediocre horses. 6-PAUL ALEX is tagged for the first time and though he's obviously no killer, he's probably as good or better than any of today's rivals. You can have 2-AWARD HANOVER and 3-NOTIFY and 5-KILKERRAN ACCORD and all of the other bad, overbet horses that have already have several chances in this class.

Mohawk - Race 6
There are two mares that interest me here: 1-SMASHBOX and 7-BLISSFUL SMILE. The former finally draws inside and shouldn't be as far back as she's been in recent weeks from outside draws. The latter is intriguing as Scott Zeron takes over in a race that should feature dynamics that are favourable to her. Both of these will be acceptable prices.

Mohawk - Race 9
6-PLUMB DUFF makes his third start for Fellows and after a very conservative trip in his debut, he went off to Kawartha and absolutely jogged in his most recent start. He's one of only a few speed horses in tonight's field and he should have the kind of trip that he needs to win. I think he's sitting on a lifetime best tonight.

Enjoy the races tonight and feel free to share your thoughts or selections with readers in the comment section below.

Check back on Monday (or Tuesday, depending on my condition) for news and pictures from Sunday's Canadian Drivers Showcase from St. John's Racing & Entertainment Centre.

Take care...