Shir Gain circled a field of a half-dozen top pacers for the second consecutive week at Inverness Raceway on Sunday afternoon to close out the month of September with back-to-back 1:57.1 victories for driver Rodney Gillis and trainer/owner Donald Beaton.
Drawing outside in the day's featured $2,000 Winners Over Pace once again, Shir Gain found himself in a 13-length deficit through a contested :27.1 opening quarter. As Igot Socks (Travis MacLean) forged ahead and led the way through a :57.3 half, Shir Gain gained ground and rallied three-wide in the backstretch to blow by the leader as they raced to three-quarters in 1:27.1. He quickly put away the pacesetter and strode clear into the lane to win by more than five lengths this time out. Rotten Ronnie (Redmond Doucet), the 3-5 favourite, finished second off a pocket trip and Sunshine Lou (Campbell MacIsaac) rounded out the top three.
A six-year-old Blue Burner gelding, Shir Gain recorded his sixth win of the year from 24 starts and now has 15 victories lifetime and more than $73,000 in purse earnings.
Sent off as the 2-1 second choice, he paid $6.40 to win.
Beaton and Gillis teamed up for a Sunday double with 13-year-old pacer Docs Ronhenry winning in 2:02.2 earlier on the card for the duo.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Inverness Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada)