A Better Man was the best man on Saturday (Aug. 5) at Northside Downs, prevailing in the weekly Winners Over feature on a card where the Nova Scotia oval hosted Harness the Hope.
Seven of the top older pacers in Cape Breton lined up in the afternoon's seventh race, with post seven and trailing tier starter Elm Grove Qwiggly sent off as the even-money choice. Kiss Me Im Irish (Mark Pezzarello) wasn't in the mood to sit the pocket on Saturday, leaving from post two and darting out to the early lead. Larry Snow was able to snake Elm Grove Qwiggly into second early, but that was a parked-out second as A Better Man (Adam Lynk) stayed snug to the pacesetter's helmet.
After a :28.3 first panel and :57.4 half, Elm Grove Qwiggly showed some serious stamina and finally cleared to the lead while passing the third station in 1:28.1. Lynk vacated the pocket as Kiss Me Im Irish had seen enough, and he asked A Better man to live up to his name and down the post-time favourite. With a :30.2 final quarter, A Better Man bested Elm Grove Qwiggly and held off a late rally from Accelerator (Richie Baryluk) to win the $1,600 dash in 1:58.4. Accelerator was the runner-up, with Elm Grove Qwiggly rounding out the top three.
Owned and trained by Joseph Lewis of Sydney, N.S., A Better Man (Betterthancheddar - Beluga Hanover) picked up his third win of the year and 20th lifetime, to give the seven-year-old $92,073 in career earnings. He returned $10.60 on a $2 win ticket.
To view the results from the Saturday card of harness racing at Northside Downs, click the following link: Saturday Results - Northside Downs.