Premier Heiress (Ross MacInnis) and Free Proof (Lewis MacDonell) left one-two in race six of the last Wednesday night card at Inverness Raceway and they finished that way, with Heiress turning in a time of 2:00.1 in her second win a row for MacInnis, who also owns and trains the four-year-old mare.
September 10, 2025
-by Bill Dunphy
The top drivers at Inverness Raceway were on their game Sunday resulting in three driving doubles on the seven-dash card.
Often dueling each other in three-wide stretch drives, Danny Gillis, with 17 wins this season, Redmond Doucet (16) and Rodney Gillis (13), each picked up a pair of wins on Sunday.
Zach Mullins, who was also a winner on Sunday, leads the pack with 20 wins so far this season.
Redmond Doucet picked up his second win in the $2,000 winners-over feature.
Trainer Wayne MacLellan’s homebred pacer Whats Up Doc and Doucet may have lost an early duel but won the war, getting up in the stretch to take the feature in 1:58.4.
With most of the field gapping a wingless starting gate in Sunday’s finale, 8-5 favourite Whats Up Doc and Shir Gain (Rodney Gillis) took off towards the inside and dueled for the early lead well ahead of their rivals into a :27.3 opening quarter, with the bettors’ choice getting the parking ticket on the outside and eventually taking a tuck as they entered the backstretch.
Whats Up Doc tracked in the two-hole through middle splits of :57 and 1:28.4 before taking another shot with a quarter-mile to go and surging past Shir Gain down the stretch for the victory by half a length. Eastcoast Invader (Monica Sutherland) rallied outside from third to show.
A six-year-old gelding sired by Hilarious Halo out of CMR Maybe Loaded, Whats Up Doc improved his seasonal summary to 4-1-7 in 16 starts as he recorded his 20th career victory. A $2 win ticket on Whats Up Doc paid $5.30.
Due to a starting gate malfunction, the wings of the starting gate were not deployed for races three through seven on Sunday’s program.
Doucet’s first win was in the fifth, bringing Fear The Shadow back from fourth at the half to a win in 1:58. It was the eight-year-old Shadow Play gelding’s third straight win for trainer Brian MacInnis and the Irish Road Stables.
Rodney Gillis held off a challenge by Doucet in the sixth race to record his second win of the day. Driving D.F. Beaton’s Shir Gain, Gillis led gate-to-wire for the win in 1:59 as Doucet and Bettie White closed to finish second by a neck.
In his first win of the day, Gillis gave three-year-old filly PA Ava a maiden mark of 2:02.1 for trainer Bernie MacDonald and the GG Stone and Mac Stable.
Meanwhile, Danny Gillis went back-to-back in races two and three for his double.
In race two, the GG Stone and Mac Stable had a double of their own as Gillis made it five wins this season for Eastwardho Fun. The MacDonald trainee rallied from third at the half to edge JGs Fireball (Keigan Madden) in a 2:00 flat trip.
And in race three, he made owner-trainer Gussie MacLean a winner by putting a new mark of 1:58. 4 on Jgsjumanji. The five-year-old mare was bred by MacLean with his Cambest mare Abby Best and the sire Hilarious Halo.
Last Wednesday was the final card of the season under the lights at Inverness Raceway.
In the $2,000 winners-over feature, Eastcoast Invader pulled wide on the final turn and charged to victory for the second time in three weeks.
The gelding, starting from post two, was a gapped third going into the first turn as Candid Cameron (Ardon Mofford) and Windemere Best Man (Danny Gillis) left hard to battle for position. Windemere Best Man went to the front and put up the first quarter in :29.1, and the field condensed as they went to the half in :59.1.
Eastcoast Invader remained in the three-hole as Shir Gain (Rod Gillis) pulled first-over from fourth, but Monica Sutherland’s patience was rewarded as she was able to send Eastcoast Invader onto that rival’s back to race second-over past three-quarters in 1:29.1.
Eastcoast Invader kicked three-high as they turned towards the lane, and he soared past Shir Gain and Windemere Best Man to score by a half-length in 1:58.2. Shir Gain was second after a tough trip, followed by Windemere Best Man.
Eastcoast Invader has now won twice in 17 starts this season for Sutherland, who trains the gelding and co-owns him with her dad Todd Sutherland. The eight-year-old son of Rollwithitharry-Manhattan Delight has compiled a career record of 26 victories and $47,779 in earnings in 140 starts.
Sutherland scored her first driving double of the season on the Wednesday card, giving her two-year-old colt Galway Bay his second win in as many starts, pacing the mile in 2:01.3.
