Windemere Best Man was the best of the bunch in the top class this week at Inverness Raceway, leading gate-to-wire in the Winners Over Pace to close out the Sunday afternoon card of harness racing on Sept. 21.
Returning to the $2,000 feature class off a victory a notch below last Sunday, Windemere Best Man was the 4-5 favourite with the inside draw for trainer/driver Danny Gillis. Taking command right from the get-go, Windemere Best Man lined up his five rivals in program order through a :29.4 quarter. Talk Some Smack (Zach Mullins) tipped first-up in the second panel but made little progress as Windemere Best Man held an uncontested led through middle splits of 1:00.1 and 1:29.2. As the pacers headed for home, Shir Gain (Rodney Gillis) rallied three-wide from the back of the pack behind the stalled cover while La Playa Deo (Andrew MacLean) popped the pocket. Both challengers turned in valiant stretch rallies but ultimately came up short as Windemere Best Man prevailed by half a length in 1:59.3. La Playa Deo was the runner-up with Shir Gain third.
Gillis shares ownership of the Malicious-Art Blanche gelding with Beverley McIsaac of Fairview, P.E.I. The seven-year-old pacer recorded his seventh win of the season in 18 starts and now boasts 27 career victories. He paid $3.70 to win.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Inverness Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada)