Redmond Doucet was in no mood to take a seat with Rotten Ronnie on Saturday, Sept. 9 in the $1,600 Winners Over feature at Northside Downs.
In fact, the horse didn't see the inside of the Cape Breton half-miler during his Saturday test. Doucet sent the local track holder out from post four in the Saturday feature and found him parked three wide into the first turn. Thunder Alley (Gerard Kennedy) used his inside position to make the front and trip the first timer in :28.1. Doucet and Rotten Ronnie came to call, but Thunder Alley had no intentions of sitting the two hole.
And nor did Doucet. So those two pacers slugged it out through middle splits of :56 and 1:25.2 with neither horse giving way.
Around the far turn, Rotten Ronnie got the best of Thunder Alley and started to edge away from his rivals at a time when the backfield should have been starting to challenge. Instead, Rotten Ronnie's :30.4 final panel was more than enough to win by more than three lengths with the mile timed in 1:56.1. Revenant (Mark Pezzarello) closed for second with Thunder Alley best of the rest in third.
Doucet owns Rotten Ronnie (Malicious - Victory Cry) along with Andy Stewart of Inverness, N.S. The five-year-old hasn't missed the top three this year for trainer Len MasIsaac, now with four wins and a 4-1-1 summary from six starts. Saturday's win was his 19th lifetime and the winner's share of the purse lifts his total earnings over $90,000.
As the 1-4 favourite, Rotten Ronnie paid $2.50 to win.
To view the results from Saturday's card of harness racing at Northside Downs, click the following link: Saturday Results - Northside Downs.