Trainer Wayne MacLellan's homebred pacer Whats Up Doc and driver Redmond Doucet may have lost an early duel but won the war, getting up in the stretch to take the featured Winners Over Pace on Sunday, Sept. 7 at Inverness Raceway.

With most of the field gapping a wingless starting gate in the afternoon's $2,000 featured finale, 8-5 favourite Whats Up Doc and Shir Gain (Rodney Gillis) took off towards the inside and duelled for the early lead well ahead of their rivals into a :27.3 opening quarter, with the bettors' choice getting the parking ticket on the outside and eventually taking a tuck as they entered the backstretch. Whats Up Doc tracked in the two-hole through middle splits of :57 and 1:28.4 before taking another shot with a quarter-mile to go and surging past Shir Gain down the stretch for the 1:58.4 victory by half a length. Eastcoast Invader (Monica Sutherland) rallied outside from third to show. 

A six-year-old gelding sired by Hilarious Halo out of CMR Maybe Loaded, Whats Up Doc improved his seasonal summary to 4-1-7 in 16 starts as he recorded his 20th career victory. A $2 win ticket on Whats Up Doc paid $5.30.

Due to a starting gate malfunction, the wings of the starting gate were not deployed for races three through seven on Sunday's program.

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

(Standardbred Canada)