Canadian-campaigned longshot Sweet Lovin Lou disrupted a three-prong stretch sprint of the betting favourites with a bold brush over the top to win the $431,597 Cane Pace (Grade 2) for pacing three-year-olds in a lifetime-best 1:47.3 effort on Hambletonian Day on Saturday, Aug. 8 at The Meadowlands.

With Tim Tetrick picking up the drive for sidelined Scott Zeron, Sweet Lovin Lou took back from post four to race last in the quintet while an early scuffle ensued through a :27.1 first quarter. Meadowlands Pace champion Brandon Blvd (Dexter Dunn), sent off as the 3-5 favourite, pushed forward but yielded to the outside pursuers, North America Cup winner Odds On Mr Mamba (James MacDonald) and Gentlemans Club (Andrew McCarthy), with the latter sweeping to the top in the backstretch.

Gentlemans Club cut a :54.1 half with the field single-file and readied for attacks in the last turn. Odds On Mr Mamba loomed out of the pocket with Brandon Blvd carried three-wide by three-quarters in 1:21.1 all while Tetrick gathered the strongest momentum with Sweet Lovin Lou from the back. By the eighth pole, Sweet Lovin Lou reached his best stride and barrelled by a game Gentlemans Club to win by three-quarters of a length with Brandon Blvd settling for third and Odds On Mr Mamba back in fourth.

“I’ve watched him go and he can sprint fast,” said Tetrick of the winner after the race. “I was a little worried at the quarter when they only went [:]27.1 but then they started mixing it up. I still felt pretty confident going into the last turn and this horse really flew through the stretch. When I got the plugs out and I followed Brandon Blvd up there, he got right up on him when I asked him to.”

Dan Lagace trains Sweet Lovin Lou, a colt by Sweet Lou out of Lovers Dream, for owners Lagace Stables of Cambridge, Ont., Edwin Buhler of Wantagh, New York, Big Als Stables of Woodbridge, Ont., and Brittany Farms Micki Rae of Versailles, Kentucky.

The colt won for the second time from nine starts this season with his lone other win being his previous lifetime best, a 1:48.2 effort to take an elimination for the North America Cup at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Sweet Lovin Lou collected his fifth career win from 18 starts, pushing his earnings to $644,000.

Sent behind the gate as second longest shot in the betting, Sweet Lovin Lou paid $30.60 for the upset win.

The graded stakes winner was bred by Joseph Davino, Brad Shackman, Drennan Stable and Anthony Perretti Farm.

(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)