Charlottetown, PE — The 63rd edition of the Gold Cup and Saucer will parade under the light after midnight Saturday evening (Aug. 20) at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park as the crowning moment of Old Home Week 2022.

Track announcer Vance Cameron is hoping for one for the record books as his final goal in the booth is to call a half-mile race that breaks the 1:50 barrier. The Saturday evening card kicks off at 7 p.m. with the C$100,000 Gold Cup and Saucer final as the race 14 finale.

The hard leaving Ideal Perception has post three after winning Trial 1 with Austin Sorrie in the bike for trainer Anthony Beaton, while Trial 2 winner Sintra will attempt give driver Anthony MacDonald and trainer Jamie Smith their first Gold Cup and Saucer win from the trailing post nine. Hall of Fame driver Wally Hennessey will sit behind Trial 2 winner Patrikthepiranha A from post two.

Also in the field are 1. Major Hill (to be driven by Pascal Berube), 4. Bettim Again (Redmond Doucet Jr.), 5. No Plan Intended (Jody Jamieson), 6. Rhodena Road (Brett MacDonald), 7. Laughagain Hanover (Jason Hughes) and 8. Time To Dance (Marc Campbell).

The 62-year-old Cameron has called the race the past 25 years since 1997 and also was the track announcer in Charlottetown for the 1979 and 1980 seasons when he was the youngest to ever announce the Gold Cup and Saucer at age 19.

“Now every year I call it I’m the oldest ever and time is running out for me for that magical 1:49.4 mile,” Cameron said. “Until Sintra went in 1:50.3 in the Trial, I didn’t think they had a shot at the track record. What we need in the final is a bit of a rabbit, someone go a half in :54 and a bit and we can do it and it can’t be Sintra because he has a wall in front of him.”

When the lights go out and the spotlight and the Island Hymn are presented, Cameron says the butterflies still come out as he reads off the famous introduction of every horse and driver that he writes and tries to have timed to the second from when they pass by the grandstand. The track announcer says this year the stakes are even higher with the first six figure purse ever on the line at Red Shores Charlottetown.

“They’re going to charge out of there,” Cameron said. “Pascal Berube is coming all the way down here to drive one horse off the rail and he’s going to sit up on him. I don’t see a whole bunch of strategy here. There are a few in here that probably aren’t good enough to win, but they can leave and they’re going to.”

The wager in Charlottetown has been dramatically up for Old Home Week 2022 and Cameron is basking in the return to normalcy this season has brought.

“It’s so great to have the people back the way we had them all week. I can’t hear myself think now with the crowds we have on that tarmac and think how many more are watching at home from their living rooms.”

Cameron will always remember the compliment Dean Nixon paid in an interview after winning the 2011 Gold Cup and Saucer with Blissful Breeze. Nixon said the post parade was worthy of a $6 million race and Cameron has no qualms in saying Red Shores has upped their game even more with a race day broadcast that is unrivaled in the sport.

“Charlottetown is in a league of its own. There is a little more prestige here than definitely any track in the Maritimes and probably any half-mile track in the country. We have so many positive comments on our show that go out and I might be a little biased but honestly we are absolutely second to none. You’re not going to find another race like it.”

For race programs, live video and more go to Redshores.ca.