by Kawartha Downs

Fraserville, ON — The2017 harness racing season is officially underway at Kawartha Downs as eightqualifiers went to the gate under sunny skies this Saturday (May 20) morning at the Fraservilleoval.

NickBoyd, one of KD’s top drivers the past few seasons, made a successful return tothe sulky after being on the sidelines for several months recovering frommultiple injuries sustained during a hockey game in January.

Boyd won the first qualifier of the day with Mad For Plaid who was six lengths thebest in 1:59.4. It was the first start of the year for the 8-year-oldgelding by Ken Warkentin owned by Linda and Derek Reid and trained by WilsonReid. A regular at KD, Mad For Plaid’s time was a life best despite the trackbeing off a second.

Inthe second race Nick piloted another Kawartha favorite, Keystone Samurai, to asecond place finish behind winner D G Nickabocker. David Ahern owns, trains anddrives the winner, a 6-year-old daughter of Million Dollar Cam.

Boyd’ssecond win of the day came with Royal Engagement who was making her firstlifetime start at Kawartha. She won by more than five lengths in 2:00.3. TommyRiley trains the 7-year-old daughter of Stonebridge Regal, who has $166,000on her card lifetime, for owner Brett Riley.

“Iwas happy with how my qualifiers went, it was good to be back,” said Boyd. “Theday went well and there’s a lot of excitement about opening night nextSaturday.”

Thefastest mile of the morning was turned in by Battle Call who had 17 lengths onhis rivals in the 1:56.4 effort under the guidance of Reg Gassien.Knightstalker Stable of Oshawa owns the 10 year-old son of Omar Khayam who wasmaking his first start at Kawartha Downs since 2012. The veteran pacer has 194 lifetimestarts to his credit for C$203,000 in earnings.

Otherwinners on the day included Warken On Air (2:01, Rick Webb), Ken Kan Win (2:00,Jim Gillespie), Crown Classic (2:01, Per Henriksen) and Santanna Blue Chip(1:59.2, Jason Woodward).

Theopening night card at Kawartha Downs is May 27 with a 7 p.m. start. The nightfeatures a tribute to Gord Brown, the winningest driver of all time at KawarthaDowns who retired from driving in the off season and now joins the Kawartha Downs team asan expert race analyst.