Of the nine horses entered in the Preferred Pace at Hippodrome 3R in Quebec on Sunday (May 21), there are four return winners in the field to help make the race a wide-open affair.
The 5/2 morning line favourite is D Gs De Vito, who last week was able to close with a burst of speed on the final turn in posting a 1:56.4 triumph for driver Jonathan Lachance. It was the first win of the season for D Gs De Vito, who is trained by Guylaine Fortin for owner-breeder Daniel Surprenant of Saint-Valentin. He starts from post six in Sunday's ninth race feature.
Proberts Legacy was arguably the most impressive winner last week as the eight-year-old gelding led wire-to-wire to win by six open lengths in 1:57.2 for regular driver Pascal Berube. It was the third win of the season for Proberts Legacy, who won earlier this season at Woodbine Mohawk Park in 1:55.1. He will start from post three for Berube and trainer Marc-Andre Simoneau.
Starting alongside Proberts Legacy in post four is Avid, who also was able to wire his field last week at 3R. The win was the five-year-old's first of the year, a head the best in 1:57.3 for driver Marie-Claude Auger and trainer Martin Roy.
The fourth return winner has the toughest job of all and that is Spectrum Seelster, who is saddled with starting from the far outside in post eight for driver Francis Picard.
Trained by Charles Gaudreault and co-owned with brothers Daniel and Maxim, Spectrum Seelster is making his first start of the 2023 season. The seven-year-old gelding did look impressive in his 1:59.3 qualifying race victory.
There are also three mares taking on their male rivals in the Preferred Pace, and those mares have previous success against male rivals.
Fancy Girl drew the second tier in post nine for driver Jessica Turenne. In her last two starts she was second by a half a length in 1:58.1 last week, and prior to that Fancy Girl wired the field at 3R in 1:57.2.
La Petite Grise goes from post five for driver Robert Shepherd and was a seven-time winner last year. The pretty grey mare goes from post five. Rounding out the mares is Platine Alpha, who goes from post two for driver Jimmy Gagnon.
Other standouts in the field include Siddhartha from post one for driver Stephane Brosseau. Siddhartha won two starts back in 1:57.3 and last week closed from sixth place on the final turn to finish second to D Gs De Vito.
Mickeymaksomespeed showed some of the form that won him eight races last year, with a third-place finish in the Preferred Pace last week. He goes from post seven for driver Jocelyn Gendron to round off the field.
There are 10 races on the Hippodrome 3R card of harness racing that begins on Sunday at 12 p.m. For a free race program, visit hippodrome3r.ca. To view Sunday's entries, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Hippodrome 3R.
(Quebec Jockey Club)