Platine Alpha by a nose at Hippodrome 3R

Trois-Rivieres, QC – By the whiskers on her face, Platine Alpha barely held off a determined Whitemountaincammy to win the Mares Preferred Handicap Pace Sunday (May 22) at the Hippodrome 3R.

The sixth race harness racing co-feature saw You Rock Girl Kir (Steven Genois) move right to the early lead and then stung race favorite Platine Alpha (Pascal Berube) through the opening quarter mile in :28.3.

Berube was able to put the brakes on as they passed the half mile marker in :59. Then the action heated up as driver Stephane Brosseau came first-over with Whitemountaincammy and they came right after Platine Alpha.

Down the backstretch those two did battle with Whitemountaincammy up by a half a length on the outside at the three-quarters in 1:28.2.

Platine Alpha then dug in on the final turn, but so did Whitemountaincammy and those two battled neck and neck, head and head down the stretch with Platine Alpha barely winning by a nose in the photo finish in 1:58. You Rock Girl Kir was third.

It was the first win in six starts this year for Platine Alpha. The four-year-old mare by Control The Moment was bred and is owned by trainer Sylvain Tremblay’s Alpha Stable of Metabechouan and paid $2.70 to win.

This was Platine Alpha’s final start at H3R for a while according to Tremblay as the mare is now headed to Toronto to compete.

PLATINE ALPHA REPLAY

22-year-old Kiwon Waldron from Bermuda scored his first win of the season Sunday in the 8^th race Preferred-Handicap with Mickeymaksomespeed.

It was the race favorite Spectrum Seelster (Stephane Brosseau) who was first on the lead with Histoire Enchantee (Simon Delisle) in the two-hole. Working his way to the front was Mickeymaksomespeed, who cleared after a :27.2 opening quarter mile.

Mickeymaksomespeed then led the field to the half mile in :56.3 with BS Tyrrfic (Pascal Berube) coming first-over and Siddhartha (Steeve Genois) second-over.

Past the three-quarters in 1:25.2, Mickeymaksomespeed was still confidently in the lead as Genois tipped three-wide on the final turn.

They were three across heading for home but Mickeymaksomespeed and Walron were too tough, winning by one length in 1:55. Siddhartha was second with Spectrum Seelster third.

It was the first win in three starts for Mickeymaksomespeed. The five-year-old stallion by Mickey Hanover was bred and is owned and trained by Michel Allard of Saint-Esprit and paid $7.60 to win.

MICKEYMAKSOMESPEED REPLAY

Track Notes: Pascal Berube continued his dominance at H3R, scoring five winners on the Sunday card. Stephanie Brosseau had a driving double and Jean-Francois Reid had a training double. Live racing resumes at the Hippodrome 3R next Sunday (May 29) with first race post time at 12:00 noon. For more information, visit www.hippodrome3r.ca.

For complete race results, click here.

By Steve Wolf, for the Quebec Jockey Club