Class relief plus home cooking equaled victory for Johnnie Jack, who dropped out of Atlantic Sires Stakes competition to knock off the top pacers in the weekly Winners Over feature on Saturday (August 22) at Northside Downs.

As the wings of the gate folded in the $1,500 event, driver Greg Sparling fired second choice Johnnie Jack to the front against his older foes and landed on the lead early. A :28.2 first panel and :57.4 half was prompted by first-over challenger Accelerator (Richie Baryluk), who was unable to clear and not allowed to drop back to the pylons.

Sparling looked for a breather in that third panel and got it, hitting the third station in a soft 1:30.3. Favoured Runaway Mystery (Harold Leblanc Jr.) was sitting fifth, third along the rail at this point and thought about a three-wide or four-wide attack but ducked back into the pylons instead. By the time he found daylight, Johnnie Jack had opened up a three-length cushion on his rivals and his hit the wire more than two lengths the best in 1:59.4. Southwind Ricardo (Keith Dicks) and Runaway Mystery completed the top three.

Owned and trained by Travis Campbell of Gardiner Mines, N.S., Johnnie Jack (Westwardho Hanover - Water Sprite) picked up his sixth win of the season in 10 tries, with all six of those wins coming at the cozy Cape Breton confines of Northside Downs.

To view the results from Saturday's card at Northside, click the following link: Saturday Results - Northside Downs.