The betting fans knew that Dance With Joe would not let them down as the 2-5 favourite in the featured pace at Hippodrome 3R Tuesday (May 29), and he did a fancy three-wide two-step to get the job done.

This was the start of Tuesday night racing at H3R this season.

The seventh-race feature started off with Hot Rock Star and driver Guy Gagnon taking the quick early lead with Matts Phil (Pierre Luc Roy) sitting the two-hole to the opening quarter mile in :27.3. By a :57.1 half, Hot Rock Star was pressured on the outside by El Torero and driver Denis Audet, with Fortune Fella (Stephane Brosseau) second-over. Meanwhile, Richard Simard and Dance With Joe were perched third-over in the outer flow.

At the three-quarters, Simard swung Dance With Joe three-wide and had just about cleared the field on the final turn; Fortune Fella was also in hot pursuit. As they started down the stretch, Simard got Dance With Joe to kick in just a little more, and they went on to win by 1-3/4 lengths in 1:56.1. Fortune Fella was second at 18-1 with El Torero third at 9-1.

It was the second straight win for Dance With Joe. The five-year-old gelded son of Roll With Joe is trained by Christine Davignon and owned by Daniel Dulude of Ste-Martine. He paid $2.80 to win.

The fastest mile on the twilight card was impressively scored by Hooter Shooter and driver Stephane Gendron in the sixth-race pace. They were parked out first-over from the half-mile pole against pacesetter Code Word (Stephane Brosseau), and got the lead by the three-quarters before pulling away from the field to win in 1:55.

Guy Gagnon was the only horseman on the card to score a double.

Live racing resumes at H3R on Sunday (June 3), with first race post time at 12:50 p.m. For more information, visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.

To view Tuesday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Tuesday Results – Hippodrome 3R.

(Québec Jockey Club)