14-1 D Gs De Vito surprises in Preferred Pace
At 0h27, on May 15, 2023 • By STEVEN WOLF
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 10th 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.
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 9th 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.
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 6th 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.
