For one of the first times all season, Mother Nature unloaded a day of rain for the 10-race card at Hippodrome 3R on Sunday (Sept. 18) as the track was downgraded to 'sloppy' with a four-second allowance by the time the Preferred features were contested.

In the seventh race $6,500 Preferred 2 & 3 Handicap Pace for the mares, Twin B Betty (pictured above) swept three-wide in the backstretch for driver Robert Shepherd, clearing to the lead past the three-quarters and then pulling away from the field to win by 2-1/2 lengths in 1:59.3. Coz Im Special (Michel Lagace) was second with Kiss Me Bad (Steven Gagnon) third.

The win was the second straight and fourth of the season from 26 starts for Twin B Betty, who is trained by Jean-Francois Maguire. The six-year-old Bettors Delight mare is co-owned by her trainer along with 9299 0522 Quebec Inc. and Julie Malenfant. She paid $3.90 to win.

In the following $6,500 Preferred 2 & 3 Handicap Pace, D Gs De Vito and driver Jonathan Lachance were able to lead from start to finish, holding off first-over challenges from both race favourite Major Hill (Pascal Berube) and then Siddhartha (Steeven Genois) to win by one length in 1:58.2. Siddhartha was second with Major Hill third.

The win was the fourth this year from 15 starts for D Gs De Vito, a six-year-old Sportswriter gelding who is trained by Guylaine Fortin for owner/breeder Daniel Surprenant. He returned $10.10 to win.

In the matching Preferred 2 & 3 Handicap Trot, the lone three-year-old in the field, Stella Alpha (Pascal Berube), took the lead away from Bonfire Bash (Francis Picard) then cut the mile until the three-quarters when she went off-stride. That caused some confusion among the rest of the field, but Kinnder Dangerzone and driver Stephane Brosseau cleared the mess three-wide. Once on the lead, the four-year-old son of Northern Escort pulled away in the stretch to win by two lengths in 2:03.3. Gloire Dream (Jocelyn Gendron) was second with Dart Guy (Robert Shepherd) third.

The victory was was the fourth of the year from nine starts for Kinnder Dangerzone, who was bred and is owned and trained by Denitza Petrova. He paid $5.80 to win.

Four-time Quebec-Bred champion Atomic Million AM, now age 11, posted his first win of the year in the second race pace in 2:01 over a 'good' track with a three-second variant at the time. The lifetime winner of more than $382,000 now has 48 career wins. He was driven by Marc Belanger for breeder, owner and trainer Alain Martin, and paid $8.10 to win.

Track Notes: Both Pascal Berube and Robert Shepherd scored driving doubles on Sunday. Live harness racing will resume at 3R next Sunday, Sept. 23 at 12 noon. 

To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Hippodrome 3R.

(With files from Quebec Jockey Club)