Going from last to first once again, Shir Gain reached up to win the Winners Over Pace in a photo finish to close out the Sunday afternoon, Oct. 20 program at Inverness Raceway.

All eyes were on recent Nova Scotia newcomer and 1-5 favourite Spectrum Seelster, coming off a second-place finish behind Windemere Best Man in his Inverness debut last week, but a failed first-over bid set up Shir Gain for more success today.

Driven by Rodney Gillis, Shir Gain trailed the field of five pacers early on before flushing cover from Spectrum Seelster (Walter Walker) as they completed the first lap in the $2,250 feature. Shir Gain was forced to go three-deep when Spectrum Seelster lost momentum heading into the backstretch as he set his sights on the pacesetter, Windemere Best Man (Zach Mullins), who led the way through fractions of :28.1, :58.2 and 1:28.3. With Sunshine Lou (Campbell MacIsaac) pocket-popping at three-quarters, Shir Gain threw himself into the fray and went three-wide again turning for home. Those three battled all the way down the stretch, with Whats Up Doc (Keigan Madden) looking for racing room from behind, but it wa Shir Gain who got up for the victory in 1:58.3 by a neck over Windemere Best Man. Sunshine Lou finished third in between the top two.

Campaigned by Inverness leading trainer Donald Beaton, Shir Gain has won four of his last five starts in the Winners Over class with a third-place finish last time out. The six-year-old Blue Burner-Shirley Hall gelding has earned eight wins overall this year from 27 starts.

Sent postward as the 3-1 second choice, he paid $8.50 to win in the finale, completing a sweep of the late Daily Double for Gillis and Beaton after favourite Igot Socks ($2.40) inherited the victory in the race prior when first-place finisher Eastcoast Invader was demoted due to a pylon violation.

Inverness Raceway will close out its 2024 harness racing meet next Sunday afternoon with post time for the season finale at 1 p.m.

To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Inverness Raceway.

(Standardbred Canada)