Surrealist matched strides with pacesetter Rambling Gambler at the wire to dead-heat for the win in Wednesday evening's Winners Over Handicap featured at Inverness Raceway.
Driven by Rod Gillis, Rambling Gambler left from post four to take the lead during a :28.4 first quarter and continued to front the field through middle fractions of :59 and 1:28.1. Meanwhile, outside assignee Surrealist and catch-driver Colin Kelly followed Euchred in the outer flow and continued to pursue the leader when their cover tucked into an open two-hole on the backside. Rambling Gambler held command through the stretch, but Surrealist was closing in quickly to produce a finish that was too close to call. The pair ultimately hit the wire in tandem to share the top honours in a 1:57.1 mile.
Both pacers entered the $950 top class with wins in their previous starts; Surrealist was returning to action after winning the Johnny & Margaret Allan Ian Memorial Pace back on July 31 at Inverness while Rambling Gambler was a winner last Saturday during Gold Cup & Saucer Night at Charlottetown Driving Park.
Don Beaton trains and owns Rambling Gambler, who has eight wins from 17 races this year. Surrealist is a seven-time winner from 15 seasonal starts for trainer Richard Mullins and owner Dana Getto.
Havana Dream rounded out the top three finishers while there was another dead-heat for fourth-place between Jackson County and Euchred to complete the field that was scratched down to five starters with R Es Aiden sick.
To view Wednesday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Wednesday Results - Inverness Raceway.