Harness racing driver Stephane Gendron had the hot hands in capturing both the pacing and trotting features at the Hippodrome 3R Tuesday, ending the program with three winners on the night.
The most impressive of the three wins came in the ninth race feature pace with 32-1 long shot Glass Shadow.
The race began with a dogfight for early control of the lead by Solid Performance (Guy Gagnon) and race favourite SOS Mach Xtreme (Stephane Brosseau) with Solid Performance winning the battle to the opening quarter mile in :27.3. As they came by the grandstand the first time, Stephane Gendron came first-over with Glass Shadow and began grinding it out as Solid Performance led the field to the half mile in :58.2 and then to the three-quarters in 1:27.3. Then, despite being on the outside for most of the one-mile race, Glass Shadow would not give in, showed true grit and came on in the stretch to win by a head in 1:56.3. Solid Performance was second with SOS Mach Xtreme third.
Trained by Charles Gaudreault, it was the fourth win this year for Glass Shadow, a five-year-old gelded son of Shadow Play, who paid $66.10 to win.
In the eighth race feature trot they were four-wide from the start and around the first turn as Force Naturelle (Simon Delisle) gave way to Caroluzzo (Stephane Gendron), who forced the 3-5 favourite, Pridecrest (Guy Gagnon) to take back into second place. They went by the opening quarter mile in a quick :28.3. Caroluzzo then led the field past the half mile in :59.3 as Uncle Freddie (Louis-Phillipe Roy) came first-over to challenge and pressed the leader to the three-quarters in 1:29.1. Then in the stretch drive, Pridecrest could not gain any ground after sitting the pocket trip as Caroluzzo won by two lengths in 1:59. Force Naturelle was third.
It was the third win in seven starts this year for Caroluzzo. The seven-year-old son of Musclesextrodinair is trained by Daniel Martin for owner Michael Cote Gagnon of Terrebonne, QC and paid $8.60 to win.
Wild River Swan showed she is primed and ready to go in the opening round of the $450,000 Breeders Cup Series at 3R next Sunday as she was an upset winner at odds of 9-1 in the fourth race pace.
Driven by Guy Gagnon for trainer Dr. John Bradbury, the three-year-old daughter of Sportswriter went three-wide in the backstretch, grinding it out until the top of the stretch when she pulled away for a one and three-quarter length lifetime mark in 2:00.1, paying $21.90 to show.
(QJC)
To view results for Tuesday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Tuesday Results – Hippodrome 3R.