Talk Some Smack avenged last week's narrow defeat with a last-to-first victory in the Winners Over Pace at Inverness Raceway on Wednesday, July 23.

Starting from the outside post six in the $2,000 event, Danny Gillis pulled the gelding back off the gate, settling him into sixth position through a :28.4 opening panel provided by Whats Up Doc (Redmond Doucet). Talk Some Smack was first off the cones, pulling out on the second turn and catching the cover of Lofty Shadow (Ardon Mofford), who pushed up to attack the leader at the half in :58.2.

Whats Up Doc promptly brushed off that rival as they turned for the backstretch, forcing Talk Some Smack three-wide on the backside to take up the first-over mantle. Talk Some Smack fired into contention approaching three-quarters in 1:29.1 and kicked off a battle with Whats Up Doc on the final turn. Those two, well clear of the rest, traded blows down the lane with Talk Some Smack muscling clear in the final strides to win by a half-length in 1:58.4. Light My Shadow (Zach Mullins) was third best.

Talk Some Smack improved to six-for-nine on the year while winning his third top-class dash in the last four weeks. The son of Artspeak-Astraean has won 12 races and earned $24,323 in 93 lifetime starts to date. Kevin MacDonald of Port Hood, N.S. owns and trains the six-year-old.

Inverness leading trainer Zach Mullins produced a single-card highlight to accompany his season-long success with his first training triple of the year on the nine-race card. He drove all three to victory himself, starting with a dominant Woodmere Novak ($5.40) in 1:59.4 in the opener. He then won the sixth race with Yacht Seelster ($4.10) in 1:58.1, that gelding’s fourth tally in his last five starts. Mullins completed the triple with Bettie White ($3.30), who cut the mile in a 2:00.1 victory in the seventh race. The trainer-driver also finished second with Custards Dungeon in the eighth race and third with Light My Shadow in the feature.

Mullins has amassed 14 wins this season, one shy of his previous best in a year. His trainees are winning at a 41.2 per cent clip, and the conditioner is six wins clear at the top of the trainers’ standings at Inverness. He is also $142 away from surpassing his career-best seasonal earnings total. The Inverness, N.S. resident is also finding success in the sulky with 16 victories and a win rate of 38.1 per cent.

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

(Standardbred Canada)