With the 2-5 race favourite Little Manny going off-stride trying to take the early lead away from pacesetter Mickeymaksomespeed, it set up a great scenario for D Gs De Vito to upset at 14-1 in the Preferred Handicap Pace at Hippodrome 3R on Sunday, May 14.
After the Little Manny (Pascal Berube) fiasco, Mickeymaksomespeed (Jocelyn Gendron) was on the lead in the $5,000 10th race feature with Platine Alpha (Jimmy Gagnon), the lone mare in the field, sitting the two-hole past the first quarter in :27.4.
Little Manny found his proper stride and Berube took him first-over with D Gs De Vito and driver Jonathan Lachance second-over as Mickeymaksomespeed led the field past the half in :58.1.
Lachance moved D Gs De Vito three-wide with Siddhartha (Stephane Brosseau) following, passing by Little Manny and going after Mickeymaksomespeed after the 1:27 three-quarters mark. D Gs De Vito wore down Mickeymaksomespeed in the stretch then held off Siddhartha to win by one length in 1:56.4. Mickeymaksomespeed finished third.
The win was the first in three starts this year for D Gs De Vito. A career winner of 25 races and more than $150,000, the seven-year-old Sportswriter gelding is trained by Guylaine Fortin for owner/breeder Daniel Surprenant of Saint-Valentin, Que.
He paid $30.50 for the upset win.
In the $4,000 Preferred Handicap Trot, there was a real slugfest with 7-1 Muscles Forever and driver Robert Shepherd emerging first to the wire.
C Un Bon Deal (Jerome Lombart) was first on the lead with Muscles Forever working his way into a two-hole by the first quarter in a speedy :28.4.
As they passed the half-mile in a meager 1:00, Fix A Drink (Sylvain Fortaine) went first-over with Morally Flexible (Stephane Brosseau) second-over while 4-5 race favourite Stella Alpha (Pascal Berube) was third-over. By the three-quarters in 1:30, Fix A Drink was able to clear to the lead, leaving Morally Flexible first-over and Stella Alpha fanning three-wide on the final turn.
In the dash down the stretch, the pocket-sitting Muscles Forever found clearance and went on to win by three-quarters of a length in 2:00.2. Morally Flexible was second with Fix A Drink third and Stella Alpha fourth.
The win was the first in three starts this year and ninth victory lifetime for the six-year-old Muscle Mass gelding. He is trained by Marc Lemay for Gestion Marc Lemay Inc. of Quebec City.
Muscles Forever paid $16.40 to win.
The longshot special of the day occured in the sixth race pace when 33-1 Vintage Love and Jessica Turenne went flying down the stretch to beat the race favourite by head and pay $69.50 to win.
Leading driver Pascal Berube scored a triple and Robert Shepherd had a driving double on the day. Trainer Lyne Asselin had a training double.
Live harness racing resumes at 3R next Sunday, May 21 with first race post time at 12 noon.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(With files from Quebec Jockey Club)