After starting his career three-for-three, Sweet Lovin Lou put together a series of impressive efforts in defeat against top competition on the Grand Circuit, including a narrow place finish in 1:48.4 at The Red Mile. At three, he’s back bigger, matured, and ready to face off with the best on the road to the North America Cup.
The colt, coming off a three-win, nine-start rookie campaign, is listed at 23-1 in TROT Magazine’s 2026 Pepsi North America Spring Book.
The $97,222 Harrisburg purchase debuted with a 1:52.4 win at Woodbine Mohawk Park, then romped in the first leg of the Dream Maker before returning to capture the final in 1:50.4. He then proceeded to recorded placings in five successive Grand Circuit starts, starting with a sharp place finish off cover in the Nassagaweya Stakes in 1:50.3.
After finishing third in the Champlain, he was third twice in a row behind dual Horse of the Year Beau Jangles in an elimination and the final of the Metro Pace. In the latter, Sweet Lovin Lou closed in :26.2 and was two lengths back in a stakes-record-equalling 1:49.1 mile. Making his sole start outside of Ontario two weeks later, the Dan Lagace trainee brushed from fifth to the lead on The Red Mile backstretch in a :27.3 second quarter and was game down the lane but unable to hold off Melillo, who won the International Stallion Stakes by a neck in 1:48.4. The son of Sweet Lou-Lovers Dream finished his season in an elimination of the Breeders Crown, in which he broke stride on the final turn.
Lagace said the break stemmed from a combination of immaturity and possible broken equipment.
"When he was younger, if you sat him in, you let him quiet, he was quiet, but soon as you asked him to go, he wanted to go, and it would become a handful for (regular driver) James (MacDonald)" said Lagace. "He was third-over (in the Breeders Crown), and James said he was swelling up real big, and he said he just got doubled up in behind that horse and made a break. The hobble broke, but I've never had a hobble break that way, so I don't know if it came loose and then he broke, or if it flew off after he made a break."
Owned by Lagace Stables of Cambridge, Ont., Edwin Buhler of Wantagh, N.Y., Big Als Stables of Woodbridge, Ont. and Brittany Farms Micki Rae of Versailles, Ky., Sweet Lovin Lou finished 2025 with a record of 9-3-2-3 and $249,312 in earnings.
Trot Insider caught up with Lagace for an update on Sweet Lovin Lou, set to compete in the $140,500 G3 Somebeachsomewhere on Saturday, May 30 at Mohawk. He's the 7-2 second choice on the morning line, leaving from post seven — one spot to the outside of 6-5 favourite Brandon Blvd.
Where did he winter and when did you start back with him?
“I jogged him for a week after the Breeders Crown — you never like seeing your horse make a break so I made sure I jogged him for a week just to wind him down and make sure there were no real issues — and then on the first of November he came down to Southern Oaks (Training Center). (I started back with him) on January 2.
Have you noticed any changes from last year to this year?
“He’s a June 7 foal, but I think he was always a lot more immature than other horses. But this year we started him out on an open bridle, and it takes him 45 minutes to jog five miles; he’s been really quiet. This year he's trained with (2024 Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final winner) You Got It Kemp and stuff, and he’s letting us sit him in real easy, and we put a blind bridle on, and he’s a whole lot more mature — night and day mature.
“He’s bigger, he’s stronger — his hobbles last year were 57”, they’re 61” this year, and he’s filling them. He’s a real good size now, he's a big boy now. But speed and hobble size is what it is, but his maturity is the biggest thing. He seems to have matured and let us do what we want with him so far.”
What does his tentative schedule look like after the North America Cup?
“He has everything in the U.S. and he has the Simcoe in Canada and that’s probably about it. Everything else is in the U.S. and he’s pretty much paid to everything.”
“Some are overlapped, like the Jennas Beach Boy and the (Little Brown) Jug. We’ll come to a decision at the time, but they’re a day apart...If he’s strong enough, then he’s got the opportunity.”
What's his biggest asset/strength?
“From the start, he’s always had speed. It was kind of the same with Allywag (Hanover), I remember early with him, they just have that turn of foot, and (Sweet Lovin Lou) is that way.”
At what point last year did you think this horse was North America Cup material?
“We liked him a lot all winter. (I was talking to) my partner Ed, he’s been with me for four or five years, he loves the young horses and he’s kind of new to the game, and he’s like ‘I checked my text messages from last year and in early February you were texting me this is the best horse we’ve ever owned together.’
“I think the biggest part was when he raced in the Metro and finished third and came from seventh out of the eight-hole. Sometimes you have a pretty nice horse and you have to make three seconds up, but if you’re only two lengths back and you’re coming through, that’s not as hard to make up sometimes.”
As someone who hasn't won this race before, how does it feel to have a horse that appears to have a legit shot at the North America Cup?
“I’ve been lucky, horse racing’s been good to me, I’ve been lucky to have horses in those (big) races that I own pieces of. This time, racing him ourselves and having the family and kids involved in it, if it’s good and it works out good, I’ll feel good.
“We did it on the owner side, but this time instead of sending our horses off, we’ve raced more of them the last couple of years, so it’s different and a little more interesting, I guess.”
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Sweet Lovin Lou winning the Dream Maker Final on Aug. 8, 2025)