P.E.I.’s Kent Oakes, who died last year, receives one of Canada’s top harness racing honours [Video]

A stalwart of the P.E.I. harness racing scene has been awarded posthumously with one of the industry’s highest honours in Canada. 

Kent Oakes was recognized by Standardbred Canada with the Cam Fella award during a ceremony Saturday night in Mississauga, Ont. His sons, Nicholas and Jeremy Oakes, accepted on his behalf. 

Oakes, 64, died after a four-vehicle crash on Route 2 just east of Summerside last June. 

“It’s the greatest honour in Canadian racing, and there’s not a single person alive that won’t say that dad was deserving of it,” Nicholas Oakes told Standardbred Canada in a livestream prior to the award ceremony.

“It’s just a real shame that he’s not here to receive it tonight.” 

Kent Oakes, who lived in North Wiltshire, P.E.I., “served on or aided virtually every board and organization …