Draw Day

Hey Everyone,
        We thought we should walk those new to Standardbreds through what we call 'draw day'!  To be entered to race Saturday night, your trainer Jackie Matheson has to enter Rollwithitharry by 9am Wednesday morning. Once the horse is entered, the Race Classifier (Gerard Smith) determines which of the 12 race 'Conditions' our horse fits into. The conditions are based on his performance through his last 5 races, earnings per start etc.. Harry finished up strongly in January so he's classified as 'Preferred 2'.  Keep in mind that the water isn't quite as deep the end of January as it is in JULY!  
      Today there were 6 horses classified Preferred 2 for Saturday night. Next, the Classifier does the post position draw between those 6 horses. As far as post position goes, inside is always better then outside. The Saturday draw was posted about 1pm today (Wednesday) while driver changes and other details all became ironed out through the afternoon. For instance, when the draw came out this afternoon for Harry's race, Gilles Barrieau was listed to drive three different horses in the same race. Gilles chose to drive Harry, so the trainers of the other two horses he was listed on will need to go to plan B for their drivers.  
       With the Governors Plate Eliminations attracting the best horses in Atlantic Canada on Sunday in Summerside, Harry's race 11 becomes the 'Featured Race' on Saturday night in Charlottetown. Harry drew post position #4 in the 11th race which will go to post at 9pm.  We'll have more updates as Harry's first race for Rollwithitharry Racing is now only days away!