It took the photo finish camera to decide the winner of the $6,000 Preferred 2 & 3 Handicap Trot on Friday (June 24) at Hippodrome 3R. And the winner was Muscles Forever and driver Sylvain Fontaine by a head.
In the sixth race feature, Hall Win (Kevin Maguire) flew off of the starting gate and took the early lead with race favourite Bonfire Bash (Robert Shepherd) grabbing the pocket seat and Muscles Forever stuck on the outside as they passed the opening quarter-mile in :29.4.
Fontaine raced Muscles Forever alongside race leader Hall Win past the half-mile in 1:00.2. Those two stayed neck and neck down the backstretch, through the three-quarters in 1:30.4 and around the final turn. By then, Eau Naturelle (Stephane Brosseau) was second-over and then tipped out three-wide for the charge down the stretch.
Hall Win and Maguire were still in command coming to the wire but Muscles Forever, parked out first-over the entire mile, still had something left at the finish, coming on to win by a head in 2:01.4, but not over Hall Win, it was Eau Naturelle and Brosseau flying into the photo finish for second-place. Hall Win was a neck back in third.
The win was the first in 17 starts this season for Muscles Forever. The five-year-old gelding by Muscle Mass is trained by Marc Lemay and is owned by his stable. He paid $9.30 to win.
Track Notes: Pascal Berube once again led all drivers with a driving triple. Six of the eight races saw lifetime marks taken. First race post time for Sunday's card, featuring the Quebec / Eastern Ontario Regional Driving Championship, is 12 noon.
To view Friday's harness racing result, click on the following link: Friday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(With files from Quebec Jockey Club)