Wild Preferred Pace goes to Wild River Swan

Wild River Swan and driver Jonathan Lachance were the upset winners at odds of 9-1 in capturing the Preferred Pace for harness racing fillies and mares in a wild affair from the start at the Hippodrome 3R Sunday.

Jans Legacy (Jocelyn Gendron) was the first on the lead in the fifth race with Fern Hill Bella (Carol Voyer) grabbing the two-hole spot. Meanwhile, driver Pascal Berube and Platine Alpha were on the outside but could not clear by Jans Legacy by the opening quarter mile in :28.1.

Still parked out first-over at the half mile in :57.4, Platine Alpha was hanging tough on the outside as Jans Legacy continued to cut the mile.

Then as the field reached the backstretch, Steven Gagnon came three-wide with Kiss Me Bad and that flushed a second-over Wild River Swan and Lachance to swing out three-wide with both horses hoping to clear by Platine Alpha.

But the lone three-year-old in the race was not done yet as they reached the three-quarters in 1:27.3, still with four horses abreast on the final turn.

By the top of the stretch, Platine Alpha finally had enough, Wild River Swan had collared Jans Legacy and then down the stretch was able to hold off Kiss Me Bad to win by one and one-quarter lengths in 1:58. Jans Legacy was third.

Wild River Swan paid $20.90 in winning for the second time this year. The eight-year-old mare by Sportswriter was bred and is owned and trained by Dr. John Bradbury of Cookshire-Eaton.

WILD RIVER SWAN REPLAY

In the ninth race Preferred-Handicap Pace for the older horses, race favorite Dreydl Hanover and driver Pascal Berube went out to the early lead with Farmer’s Tan (Carol Voyer) in the pocket seat to the opening quarter in :27.3.

A pesky Maracasso and driver Steven Gagnon was also moving first-over but could not get by Dreydl Hanover by the half mile in :57.1 and D Gs De Vito (Jonathan Lachance) still decided to follow the first-over cover.

In the backstretch Lachance decided to make his move three-wide by the three-quarters in 1:26.3 and was able to clear by Maracasso and went right after Dreydl Hanover.

D Gs De Vito had all the momentum in his favor as he went on to win by one and three-quarter lengths with Hooter Shooter (Samuel Fillion) second and Dreydl Hanover third.

A five-year-old gelded son of Sportswriter, it was the seventh win on the year for D Gs De Vito, who is trained by Guylaine Fortin for owner-breeder Daniel Surprenant of Saint-Valentin and paid $5.80 to win.

D GS DE VITO REPLAY

In the fourth race pace, two two-year-olds, race favorite Ritchie Alpha (Pascal Berube) and 21-1 long shot Le Massif (Steeve Genois) battled neck and neck to the wire.

It took the photo finish camera to declare Le Massif the winner by a nose in 2:00. It was the maiden win for Le Massif, a colt by Shanghai Phil, trained by Melanie Boulianne, who paid $44.50 to win.

Track Notes: Both Jonathan Lachance and Samuel Fillion had driving doubles while Louis-Philippe Turcotte had a training double. Next Sunday the Quebec Jockey Club and Standardbred Canada will host the annual Lucien Bombardier Pace for two-year-old fillies with an estimated purse at $30,000. Post time Sunday is 12:10 pm. For more information, visit here.

For full race results, click here.

By Steve Wolf, for the Quebec Jockey Club