Race favourite Revenant took the lead early and paced away from his rivals to win the $5,000 final of the Governors Cup Series in a Sunday afternoon romp at Northside Downs on Nov. 12.
The Big Chase (Harold Lablanc) got the first call leaving from post two and landed on top into the first turn ahead of insider A Better Man (Gerard Kennedy). His lead was short-lived through as driver Zachary Mullins pointed 6-5 favourite Revenant to the top and cleared to command as they sprinted past the quarter pole in :28.2.
Revenant then stole a second quarter breather to the half in :58.4 and continued a steady pace to three-quarters in 1:28.4 with no one able to keep up as his leading margin widened to 3-1/2 lengths.
Early trailer and defending series champion Eastcoast Invader (Monica Sutherland) rallied three-wide around stalled cover down the backstretch but had too much ground to make up as he chased after Revenant down the lane. Revenant won by 5-3/4 lengths at the end in 1:59 flat, with Eastcoast Invader up for second. Q Ts Charlie (Adam Lynk) edged out The Big Chase and A Better Man in a tight show finish.
Coming off a victory in the second leg of the series after a third-place finish in the opening round, Revenant paid $4.60 to win as the bettors' choice.
Trained by John Hawco, the nine-year-old If I Can Dream gelding hit the double-digit win mark and is now 10-for-21 this year for owners Kyla MacDonald, Tyler Lynk and Colby Lynk. Lifetime, Revenant has won 28 races and more than $63,000.
Posting the fastest mile of the day, Rotten Ronnie took the $3,000 consolation with a 1:58.3 wire-to-wire effort for driver Redmond Doucet, who also co-owns the five-year-old son of Malicious with Andy Stewart. Despite being scratched sick from the Nov. 4 second leg of the series, the Les MacIsaac trainee was the heavy favourite and delivered on his 1-2 pari-mutuel promise, holding 1-1/4 lengths clear of pocket-pursuer Keeperoftherealm (Ryan Campbell), with Gentry Seelster (Mark Pezzarello) following in third. Rotten Ronnie returned $3.10 to win.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Northside Downs.