If they weren't considered the favourites for the 2020 Governor's Cup Series before, Intended Royalty and Southwind Ricardo certainly stamped themselves as the horses to beat after scary good performances on the Saturday afternoon (Oct. 31) card at Northside Downs.
Intended Royalty employed different tactics from his Governor's Cup leg win a week ago but the end result was the same as the nine-year-old veteran found himself getting his picture taken after his one-mile test.
Three pacers left out strongly in Saturday's first second leg division, with Intended Royalty and driver Redmond Doucet taking a seat in third behind Sweet City Girl (John Hawco) and Runaway Mystery (Harold Leblanc Jr.) through a :28.4 first quarter. Doucet right-lined Intended Royaly from third as the field hit the homestretch for the first time and commenced a first-over attack as the half mile mark was reached in :58.4. Sweet City Girl's lead would diminish to just a nose as the tempo picked up through a 1:57.3 third quarter, with Intended Royalty clearing around the final turn and then holding off the late bid of Kiss Me Im Irish (Mark Pezzarello) to win by a length in 1:57.1. Runaway Mystery and Eastwardho Fun (Alex MacDonald) completing the top four.
Randy Copley trains and co-owns Intended Royalty (No Pan Intended - Renees Queen) notched up his 10th win of the season in 18 starts to hit the 45-win mark in his career. Edward Copley of Inverness, N.S co-owns.
Using his rail control to his advantage, Southwind Ricardo made every call a winning one in the second Governor's Cup Series division. After fractions of :28, :57.1 and 1:27, Southwind Ricardo and Harold Le Blanc Jr. kicked home in :29.1 to comfortably resist the late bid of favoured Johnnie Jack (Greg Sparling) by two lengths in 1:56.1. Bet On Art (Ardon Mofford) was best of the rest in third, more than 13 lengths back of the winner.
The late-season loving Southwind Ricardo (Dragon Again - Southwind Rio) picked up his eighth win of the win of the season in 21 starts and his sixth win in his last eight starts for Nova Scotians Joel Le Blanc of Victoria Mines, Harold Le Blanc of Sydney, William Seymour & Bernie Gillis of Glace Bay. His 1:56.1 win -- the 38th of his career -- marks his fastest ever at Northside as he looks for his third straight win in the Governor's Cup.
The $5,000 Governor's Cup Final goes postward along with a $3,000 Consolation next Saturday, Nov. 7. The top six point earners advance to the Final and those horses are as follows:
Intended Royalty
Southwind Ricardo
Kiss Me Im Irish
Johnnie Jack
Runaway Mystery
Bet On Art
The horses that qualify for the $3,000 Consolation are:
Eastwardho Fun
Docs Ronhenry
Dashpedia
Sweet City Girl
Junebugs Baby
To view the results for Saturday's card of harness racing at Northside, click the following link: Saturday Results - Northside Downs.