Sunshine Lou held off a pair of top contenders in the Winners Over Pace to close out the Sunday afternoon, Sept. 8 harness racing card at Inverness Raceway.
Parking a pair of early leavers three-wide into the first turn, Sunshine Lou established the lead from the inside post and set fractions of :28.3, :57.3 and 1:27.1 to three-quarters. He looked like the clear winner as he turned for home with a four-length lead in rein to Campbell MacIsaac, but things got interesting late in the $2,000 featured finale as Rotten Ronnie (Redmond Doucet), who stalked in third after a trailing tier start, and a second-over Eastcoast Invader (Monica Sutherland) took their shots down the stretch and closed in as the three race favourites raced to the wire. Sunshine Lou had enough momentum to hold off those foes in a three-across finish, prevailing in 1:57.3 by three-quarters of a length with Rotten Ronnie the runner-up and Eastcoast Invader getting third money.
Sunshine Lou, who has won two of his last three starts from the inside post in the top Inverness class, returned $5.60 as the 9-5 bettors' choice in the field of seven.
Local trainer Raymond MacKinnon and his wife Leah own the eight-year-old gelding by Sunshine Beach. Sunshine Lou now sports a seasonal summary reading 5-3-3 from 16 starts competing in the top class at Inverness. A career winner of 24 races, Sunshine Lou has banked just shy of $70,000 in purses.
Live harness racing resumes at Inverness Raceway next Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Inverness Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada)