In his second start back from Prince Edward Island, Ronald Seymour Jr. and Joel LeBlanc's Southwind Ricardo ($3.00) was every bit as good as his backers believed him to be, taking Saturday's (Sept. 1) $1,200 winners-over pacing feature at Northside Downs in wire-to-wire fashion.
Ryan Campbell wasted no time putting the five-year-old Dragon Again gelding in play from the pole. The pair sped out to the early lead and put 3-1/4 early lengths on Brother John (John Beaton), who left from post 5 to land in second. Southwind Ricardo set early fractions of :29.1 and :59.1 while uncontested, and Brother John found himself quickly eclipsed for second by Dreamfair Van Dam (John Kennedy).
The round-robin of runners-up continued through the second circuit while Southwind Ricardo increased his margin to just over four lengths on the field past three-quarters in 1:29.1. While he decelerated in the last quarter, his 2:00.2 score kept him 2-1/4 lengths clear of Keep A Secret (Roddy Hurley), who rallied into second over Accelerator (Gregory Sparling).
Southwind Ricardo, who campaigns in Nova Scotia for trainer Ronald Seymour, earned the 16th win of his career and his third of 2018. The featured win capped a driving hat trick for Campbell on the eight-race card.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click the following link: Saturday Results – Northside Downs.