Stella Alpha is the Princess of Trot at H3R

Trois-Rivieres, QC – Having to move up in class and being the only three-year-old filly in the field did not hinder Stella Alpha at all as she easily handled her older harness racing rivals in winning the Preferred Trot Sunday afternoon at the Hippodrome 3R.

The third race co-feature saw Quebec-bred champion Hall Win (Kevin Maguire) scoot to the early lead over Stella Alpha (Pascal Berube) to the opening quarter in :28.3, but Berube wanted the front and pulled the pocket with Stella Alpha after the half mile marker in :58.3 and was parked out until after the three-quarters in 1:29.1.

From that point Stella Alpha controlled the pace with XOXO (Jerome Lombart) now first-over and starting to gain on Stella Alpha, who had a three-length lead at the top of the stretch.

That just urged Stella Alpha on as she won with ease down the stretch by two and one-quarter lengths in 2:00. XOXO was second with Hall Win third.

STELLA ALPHA REPLAY

It was the second straight win and third triumph of the season for Stella Alpha. The filly by Royalty For Life is trained by Sylvain Tremblay and was bred and is owned by Tremblay’s Alpha Stable of Metabetchouan. The Princess of Trot at the Hippodrome 3R paid $3.10 to win as the wagering favorite.

USA invader Menlo Park took an instant liking to the H3R half mile oval, wiring the field in the 8^th race Preferred-Handicap Pace in his first start ever at H3R.

A recent purchase from Miami Valley Raceway in Ohio by co-owner and trainer Jean-Francois Reid of Anjou with Maurice Houle of Contrecoeur, Menlo Park left from post five and never looked back for driver Stephane Brosseau.

Goldinthebadlands (Marie-Claude Auger) sat the two-hole trip as Menlo Park led to the quarter in :27.3, the half in :57.1 and the three-quarters in 1:26.1. Mickeymaksomespeed and driver Kiwon Waldron came first-over and tried to look Menlo Park in the eye but could not.

Menlo Park and Brosseau went on to win by two and one-quarter lengths in 1:55.3. Mickeymaksomespeed was second with Goldinthebadlands third.

A five-year-old gelding by Betterthancheddar, Goldinthebadlands notched his second win this year for Reid. He paid $6.90 to win as the co-favorite in the race.

MENLO PARK REPLAY

Track Notes: Stephane Brosseau led all drivers Sunday with a triple. Pascal Berube and Steeven Genois had driving doubles. Trainers Jean-Francois Reid and Marc-Andre Simoneau each had a double. Live racing resumes at H3R next Sunday 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