Riding the pocket behind McLand (Walter Walker) for seven-eighths of Sunday’s $2,000 feature, Redmond Doucet and his four-year-old gelding Philthy Phil won by two lengths, holding off Sea Laird (Zach Mullins) in a time of 1:56.
-by Bill Dunphy
Philthy Phil converted a perfect pocket trip into a birthday gift victory for driver Redmond Doucet in the afternoon’s featured winners-over pace at Inverness Raceway on Sunday.
Doucet landed the pocket position in rein to Philthy Phil in the featured finale as inside leaver McLand (Walter Walker) led the field of five in program order through a leisurely quarter in 29 seconds and completed the first lap in :58.2.
Doucet made the winning move near the 1:27.3 three-quarter pole with Philthy Phil overtaking McLand by the stretch and pacing away to a 2-1/2-length victory in 1:56. He knocked a full second off his lifetime mark that he had taken two starts ago.
Stepping up into the $2,000 top class for the first time last week with poor post draw luck, Philthy Phil was the 2-1 second choice with post two for his second attempt.
The 2-5 favourite, Sea Laird (Zach Mullins), was full of late pace and just caught McLand in the race for place.
Owned by Doucet and trained by Lennan MacIsaac, the Nova Scotia stakes winner has earned victories in half of his 12 starts this year at Inverness. The four-year-old son of Shanghai Phil-CMR Maybe Loaded now has a career summary of 8-5-4 from 25 starts with earnings of $13,522.
The feature race was named in honour of the lifelong harness racing fan Don Williams, who passed away in July at the age of 81.
Celebrating his 45th birthday with a driving double on the seven-race card, Doucet also scored in wire-to-wire fashion in the $1,300 fourth race with MacIsaac trainee Dirty Bobby, whom he co-owns with Andy Stewart.
Following the afternoon’s fourth race, Inverness Raceway honoured 14-year-old pacer IC True Grit with a retirement ceremony in the winner’s circle.
IC True Grit raced for 14 different trainers during his career spanning 340 starts across three provinces, earning 39 wins, 46 seconds and 59 thirds with earnings totalling $135,582.
The No Pan Intended-French Toast gelding, who is described as a kitten in the barn but a feisty character with true grit on the racetrack, made his way to Inverness in January 2024, where he found his forever home with owner/trainer Melanie Leblanc.
There was a second driving double recorded on Sunday as Rodney Gillis picked up a pair, including a win with Woodmere Bedard in the first with a maiden mark of 2:02.
The three-year-old Bet The Moon-Sinspirational gelding is trained by Donald Kennedy for owners Paula Kennedy-MacDonald, Terri Morrison, and Irwin Claener.
His second win came in the fifth with Shir Gain, the fifth win of the season for the eight-year-old gelding owned and trained by D.F. Beaton.
Live harness racing continues this Sunday, 1 p.,m., at Inverness Raceway. The following are the full results for the Sept. 27 card: