Last-to-first winner in opening Northside Winners-Over

Runaway Mystery (Mister Big) rounded every harness racing rival in the final quarter to capture the first Winners-Over of the season on opening day at Northside Downs on Saturday (May 11).

The 10-year-old sat at the tail of a single-file six-horse line to the quarter in :30.2 but joined the outside flow third-over rounding the second turn for Harold Leblanc. The horses traveled three-by-three through the half in 1:02.2 to three-quarters in 1:33.2.

David Lloyd George (Keigan Madden), braving a first-over trip, finally dispatched pacesetter Keeperoftherealm (Roddy Hurley) at the top of the stretch but soon became the target with Gentry Seelster (Mark Pezzarello) coming off his back. Gentry Seelster plugged away with marginal gains, but Runaway Mystery took flight and rolled up just in time to snag the victory by a head in 2:04.

David Lloyd George dug deep to hold second over Gentry Seelster.

RUNAWAY MYSTERY REPLAY

Runaway Mystery added a 31st tally to his lifetime account with the win and increased his earnings to $71,858 in 157 starts. Now in his fourth season on the East Coast, he won six times at Northside Downs last year but not a Winners-Over. Leblanc trains the gelding and co-owns him with Joel LeBlanc of Victoria Mines and Melvin Augustus Burns of New Waterford.

John Gerard Kennedy, Ardon Mofford, and Harold Leblanc each picked up three driving wins on the card. The latter two trained both of their winners.

Northside Downs will hold racing every Saturday until Nov. 16 with a regular post time of 1 p.m. ADT.

For complete race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink