Eleven-year-old pacer Intended Royalty made his season's debut a winning one in his home track's opening day feature as harness racing returned to Inverness Raceway on Sunday afternoon (May 29).
Leading every step of the way in the $1,700 Winners Over Pace, the favoured No Pan Intended gelding cruised through fractions of :28.3, :58.1 and 1:27.4 en route to the victory over his four foes. Coming off a nine-win season in 2021, Intended Royalty was two lengths the best in 1:58 flat over a track that was upgraded to fast for the final two races. Thunder Alley (Campbell MacIsaac) and Eastcoast Invader (Doug MacQuarrie) followed in second and third.
Inverness Raceway's defending driving champion Redmond Doucet was in the bike for an opening day win. Trainer Randy Copley and Edward Copley share ownership of Intended Royalty, who is now a 59-time winner in his career with lifetime earnings hitting the $140,000 mark.
Rod Gillis led all drivers by winning half of the six-race card, including the first race of the meet behind Paul MacLean's homebred pacing mare Tuckers Best in a 10-1/4-length romp for trainer Charles Fraser. He also scored with his own 11-year-old pacer Docs Ronhenry and the Brady MacDougall-trained Credit To Burn.
The fastest mile of the day was courtesy of Alex MacQuarrie trainee Betterthanbutter, winning his four-year-old debut by 9-1/4 lengths in 1:57.4 over the 'good' track with Zachary Mullins along for the ride. The Westwardho Hanover gelding is owned by Walter Deagle.
Four-year-old pacing mare J Gs Fireball was the longshot winner on the card as Campbell MacIsaac engineered an 18-1 upset aboard the Angus MacLean trainee.
Live harness racing continues at the Inverness half-mile oval next Sunday, June 5 at 1 p.m. To view the complete racing schedule for the 2022 season, click here.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Inverness Raceway.