Northlands Park kicked off its Standardbred meet on Friday night and Tajmeallover stole the spotlight with a late-closing victory in the Edmonton oval's first Open event.
Tajmeallover was seventh and fourth over in the final turn before she rallied home in a :28.2 final quarter to win the $11,500 Fillies & Mares Open Handicap Pace for driver J.F. Gagne and trainer Marjorie Dumont. Her 1:55 winning time was just one-fifth of a second off her lifetime mark.
Blue Star Beauty was the race leader through fractions of :27.4, :57 and 1:25.4 before fading to last. Gottaluckydeal came three-wide entering the stretch off the cover of Rummys Command to finish second while Skade also closed from the outer flow and finished third.
Tajmeallover was the 4-5 favourite and paid $3.70 to win. The four-year-old mare was also a winner in her last start at the Open level at Century Downs on Nov. 7. She has won 13 of her 19 starts this year to earn the bulk of her $86,882 bankroll.
The daughter of Tajma Hall and Watch Over Me is co-owned by Gagne along with Peter Van Seggelen of De Winton, Alta. and Carl Warnaar of Kelowna, B.C.
Five-year-old pacing gelding Metajka Road ($9.10) was also victorious earlier on the card for the same connections, earning his third straight score.
Raging Fingers ($2.70), the winningest horse of the Century Downs meet, continued his winning momentum at Northlands and took the season opener with a dominant 1:54.3 score in a $20,000 claimer over his stablemate False Advertising for trainer/driver Travis Cullen. Alberta's top horseman also scored victories with Rain Gauge ($7.90), Bounty Boy ($6) and Cheat To Win ($5.70) during the 10-race program.
Trainer Glenn Lutz sent out back-to-back upset winners in sophomore fillies Honey Booboolina ($16.90) and Mozella Hanover ($15.20).
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Northlands Park.