14-1 D Gs De Vito surprises in Preferred Pace

With the 2/5 race favorite Little Manny going off-stride trying to take the early lead away from pacesetter Mickeymaksomespeed (Jocelyn Gendron), it set up a great scenario for D Gs De Vito (Sportswriter) to upset at 14-1 in the Preferred-Handicap Pace at the Hippodrome 3R Sunday (May 14).

After the Little Manny fiasco, the 10^th race feature saw Mickeymaksomespeed on the lead with Platine Alpha (Jimmy Gagnon), the lone mare in the field, sitting the two-hole past the first quarter in :27.4.

Little Manny had found his proper stride and Berube took him first-over with D Gs De Vito and driver Jonathan Lachance second-over as Mikeymaksomespeed led the field past the half in :58.1.

As they raced down the backstretch, Lachance moved D Gs De Vito three-wide with Siddhartha (Stephane Brosseau), passing by Little Manny and coming after Mickeymaksomespeed at the three-quarters in 1:27.

On the final turn, D Gs De Vito came after Mickeymaksomespeed with Siddhartha fanning three-wide to come after the race leaders.

D Gs De Vito wore down Mickeymaksomespeed in the stretch and then held off Siddhartha to win by one length in 1:56.4. Siddhartha was second with Mickeymaksomespeed third.

D GS DE VITO REPLAY

It was the first win in three starts for D Gs De Vito. The seven-year-old gelding is trained by Guylaine Fortin for owner-breeder Daniel Surprenant of Saint-Valentin. He paid $30.50 to win.

The 9^th race Preferred-Handicap Trot saw a real slugfest with 7-1 Muscles Forever (Muscle Mass) emerging first to the wire.

C Un Bon Deal (Jerome Lombart) was first on the lead with Muscles Forever (Robert Shepherd) working their way into a two-hole trip by the first quarter in a speedy :28.4.

As they passed the half mile in a meager 1:00, Fix A Drink (Sylvain Fortaine) came first-over with Morally Flexible (Stephane Brosseau) second-over and third-over was the 4/5 race favorite, Stella Alpha (Pascal Berube).

By the three-quarters in 1:30, Fix A Drink was able to clear to the lead, leaving Morally Flexible first-over and Stella Alpha fanning three-wide on the final turn.

In the dash down the stretch, the pocket-sitting Muscles Forever found clearance and went on to win by three-quarters of a length in 2:00.2. Morally Flexible was second with Fix A Drink third and Stella Alpha fourth.

MUSCLES FOREVER REPLAY

It was the first win in four starts this year for the six-year-old gelding. He is trained by Marc Lemay for the Marc Lemay Stable of Quebec City. Muscles Forever paid $16.40 to win.

Track Notes: The longshot special of the day came in the 6^th race pace where 33-1 Vintage Love (Jessica Turenne) came flying down the stretch to beat the race favorite by a long nose and pay $69.50 to win. Leading driver Pascal Berube scored a driving triple and Robert Shepherd a driving double. Trainer Lyne Asselin had a training double. Live harness racing resumes at H3R next Sunday, May 21 with first race post time at 12:00 noon. For more information visit here.

For complete race results, click here.

by Steve Wolf, for the Quebec Jockey Club