When all was said and done on Saturday, Sept. 26 at Northside Downs, it was better than just an alright day for driver Mark Pezzarello and trainer Heather Hawkins.

It was Alritealritealrite.

Saturday's card of harness racing in Cape Breton featured 10 races, with six of those captured by driver Pezzarello and three going to the Hawkins stable. All three of Hawkins' winners came courtesy the hot hands of Pezzarello, Northside's leading driver for 2026 now with 34 wins on the season. The triple for Hawkins lifted her into a tie with Warren MacKinnon, as both trainers have sent out 19 winners at Northside in 2026.

The biggest win of the day for the Pezzarello-Hawkins tandem transpired in the afternoon's ninth race, the $1,600 Winners Over Pace. Alritealritealrite, the 4-5 public choice, delivered to his supporters and connections with a five-length romp in 1:58.2 after cutting all the earlier fractions (:29.3, 1:00.4 and 1:30.1). Ranked Contender (MacKinnon) finished second ahead of second choice Hugh Heff (Randy Getto).

A nine-time winner on the year and 12-time winner in his 69-start career, Alritealritealrite (pictured above) is a five-year-old horse owned by Nova Scotia-based Terri Morrison of Marion Bridge, Irwin Claener of New Waterford, Kirk Macrae of Ben Eoin and Angus Maceachern of Howie Center. The son of Lazarus N-Hot Spot Hanover sits just shy of $200,000 in career earnings. He returned $3.70 to win.

Chocolate Swirl (1:58.2; $4.80) and Thunder Alley (1:57.3; $3.20) were Hawkins' earlier winners on the afternoon. The Sydney, N.S.-based trainer sports a UTRS of 0.421 this season by virtue of a 19-10-11 summary from 67 starters. Lifetime, Hawkins has trained the winners of 599 races with $528,189 in purses earned.

Half of Pezzarello's Saturday winners have been mentioned thus far. He also guided American Starlight (2:01.1; $6.20) to victory in the opener, Kiss Me Im Irish (2:02.4; $3.30) to the winner's circle in the finale, and added one of the three $1,500 Celtic Financial Series eliminations by teaming up with Dont Ask Logan (1:59.4; $3.60).

Now with a 35-33-32 summary from 171 starts with a 0.354 UDRS on the season, Pezzarello sports 717 lifetime driving victories with more than $2.8 million in purses. The River Ryan, N.S. resident is six wins shy of the 41 he tallied last year, his best total since shifting his base of operations to the east coast in 2016.

The other divisions of the Celtic Financial Series went to MJ Rae and trainer-driver Andrew MacLean (2:00; $5.10) and Igot Socks for driver Keigan Madden and trainer Don Beaton (2:01.4; $3.30). The series is for non-winners of $2,500 in 2026 as of Sept. 1 in 2026 with a minimum of 10 seasonal starts (winners over horses not eligible). The $4,000 final and $2,500 consolation take place one week from today on Saturday, Oct. 3.

For the full results from Saturday's card of harness racing in Cape Breton, click the following link: Saturday Results - Northside Downs.

(Standardbred Canada)