Trois-Rivieres, QC – La Petite Grise (Sportswriter) in French means The Little Grey and the beautiful little grey mare was a terror on the harness racing racetrack Sunday (June 5) at the Hippodrome 3R, winning the Mares Preferred-Handicap Pace in a romp.
The 3rd race feature started off with Sieras Rose (Steeven Genois) scooting to the lead with Platine Alpha (Kiwon Waldron) getting the two-hole seat and La Petite Grise with driver Pascal Berube on the outside and moving up. They went by the quarter in :28.3.
Le Petite Grise cleared to the lead and was in command coming to the half mile as Waldron moved first-over with Platine Alpha and Whitemountaincammy (Stephane Brosseau). The half mile was passed in :59.1.
Down the backstretch, Waldron was able to keep Platine Alpha moving up slowly against La Petite Grise to the three-quarters in 1:28.1.
That’s when Berube let La Petite Grise have her head and she started pulling away from the field and went on to win by four open lengths in 1:57. Platine Alpha was second with Whitemountaincammy third.
LA PETITE GRISE REPLAY
It was the third win in the last four starts for La Petite Grise. She is trained by Fernand Jodoin, who co-owns the mare with Michel Letendre. Sent off as the overwhelming 1/9 favorite, she paid just $2.30 to win.
The 7th race Preferred Pace started out on a sour note with Blue Moose a late scratch taking the field down to just four horses. But what a finish it was!
Spectrum Seelster and Francis Picard shot right out to the early lead with Mickeymaksomespeed (Kiwon Waldron) sitting second to the first quarter in :27.3.
Picard was able to back down the pace with Spectrum Seelster to the half mile in :57.4. Then it was D Gs De Vito and driver Jonathan Lachance coming first-over with Goldinthebadlands (Stephane Brosseau) second-over to the three-quarters in 1:27.
Then in a torrid stretch drive, D Gs De Vito and Lachance had collared Spectrum Seelster and was on his way to win the race when Picard asked his horse for a little more and Spectrum Seelster surged back to win by a head. Goldinthebadlands was third.
SPECTRUM SEELSTER REPLAY
A six-year-old gelding by Mac Three, Spectrum Seelster notched his third win this season. He is trained by Charles Gaudreault, who co-owns him with Daniel and Maxim Gaudreault. He paid $5.30 to win.
Windsun Cheyenne ($7.70) became the winningest horse at H3R this season, scoring his fourth win at the track with a first-over-grind-it-out head victory in 1:57.1 in the 6th race pace. He was driven by Pascal Berube.
Track Notes: Stephanie Brosseau led all drivers with a triple on Sunday. Both Francis Picard and Pascal Berube had driving doubles. Live racing resumes at H3R next Friday, June 10 at 4:00 pm. For more information, visit here.
For complete race results, click here.
By Steve Wolf, for the Quebec Jockey Club