For Standardbred racehorse house owners and harness-racing followers on the East Coast, the current lack of one in all two ferries is having a serious affect on the trade.
In line with a report on CBC.ca, horse house owners are having to cancel races as a result of they’ll’t reliably transport their racehorses from PEI to Nova Scotia, and vice-versa, in time to compete.
“With cancellations, particularly early mornings on the weekends, plenty of these Nova Scotia horses making an attempt to get to Prince Edward Island, it’s been a problem,” James Perrot, president of the P.E.I. Standardbred Horse House owners Affiliation tells the CBC. “I do know in a few situations this yr there’s been horses scratched in Nova Scotia [races] as a result of they didn’t have sufficient time after the cancellation of the ferry to get round [using the Confederation Bridge].”
Horses racing at Charlottetown. (redshores.ca picture)
The problem stemmed from an accident which concerned the ferry MV Confederation hitting the dock, leaving a big gap in its bow. This left the MV Saaremaa as the only ferry making the route. The ferry proprietor, Northumberland Ferries, didn’t have an estimate as to when repairs to the Confederation could be accomplished. It’s all a part of ongoing ferry points, because the Saaremaa was already a brief substitute for the MV Vacation Island which was destroyed in a fireplace in 2022.
The timing couldn’t be worse, as a result of the autumn is maybe the busiest and most worthwhile for harness racing on PEI, with stakes races, the Atlantic Traditional Yearling Sale and the Atlantic Breeders Crown weekend Oct. 11-13.
“There’s some huge cash on the desk, for not simply opponents, however plenty of breeders with the Atlantic Traditional sale,” provides Perrot.
Including to the issues is the truth that the drive throughout the Confederation Bridge generally has delays as a consequence of climate. And for breeders and house owners in different components of PEI, the drive provides hours to the journey, not ideally suited for horses or potential patrons who might not wish to make the additional effort to see horses.
The hope is that the MV Saaremaa will likely be persistently in a position to make its day by day schedule, which at present is 4 journeys per day, and that the Confederation repairs will likely be accomplished in a well timed trend.
(Ed. word: a test of the corporate’s web site reveals that each one MV Saaremaa crossings are cancelled as much as and together with September 26 as a consequence of points with two of the 4 important engines, that means that quickly there is no such thing as a service in any respect between Wooden Islands, PEI and Caribou, NS.)