Charlottetown, PE — Circling from the backfield, Patrikthepiranha A was determined to land his nose on the line first in Trial 3 of the Gold Cup and Saucer, presented by Atlantic Lottery, on Monday evening (Aug. 15) at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park as part of Old Home Week racing.

Hall of Fame driver Wally Hennessey was back in his hometown of Charlottetown to drive the Melissa Beckwith trained son of Four Starzzz Shark to a 1:51.3 performance for owner Thestable.ca over second place No Plan Intended (Jody Jamieson) and Rhodena Road (Brett MacDonald). Those three will advance to the C$100,000 Gold Cup and Saucer final joining Saturday’s finalists Ideal Perception, Time To Dance, Bettim Again, Sintra, Major Hill and Laughagain Hanover. The official post position draw for the historic final will take place during the Tuesday (Aug. 16) program at Red Shores Charlottetown.

Hennessey was all smiles in the winner’s circle as the 65-year-old winner of 11,370 races is set to make his first Gold Cup and Saucer appearance in 17 years after winning the race in 2005 with Driven To Win and 2001 with Scarlet And Gold.

In Monday’s C$12,500 trial, Lovemyrockinbird (Jason Hughes) was first to the lead and laid down the opening splits of :27.2 and :55.3 before the backfield came into motion. Rhodena Road came first over with Ys Mathis (Marc Campbell) on his back at the half-mile station and Patrikthepiranha A following cover third over heading to the 1:23.4 three-quarters.

“The main thing was to finish top three so I just took a shot coming off the gate and actually my horse was quite comfortable where he was sitting,” Hennessey says of getting away fifth with Patrikthepiranha A. “Jody (Jamieson driving No Plan Intended) flushed me a bit and I was lucky to grab some cover. Then the last turn I made the move I had to make and came three-high and it worked.”

Patrikthepiranha A fought through the stretch drive to prevail by three-quarters of a length in 1:51.3.

“I don’t think you’ve seen the best of him yet. Mark and Melissa Beckwith know their way around and how to get the best out of their horses. They do a great job.”

Hennessey watched the first two Trials from his New York base before flying to P.E.I. and was impressed by every one of the trial entrants and thinks Y S Lotus’ 1:50.1 track record is far from safe.

“It’ll scare the track record,” Hennessey said of the upcoming Aug. 20 Gold Cup and Saucer final. “Regardless of post position I’d say Sintra will be your morning line favorite but with nine horses lining up behind the gate, post position is going to be so important. The tradition and the pageantry of this race makes it sure that nobody will be out there lolly gagging, they’ll be going.”