Trois-Rivieres, QC – The game warhorse Caroluzzo, teamed up with veteran harness racing driver Richard Simard, the Black Cat, to score an upset victory in the Preferred Trot at the Hippodrome 3R Friday afternoon.
The fifth race feature saw Caroluzzo, at odds of 9-1, go right to the lead from the rail for Simard as R Rkadabra (Stephane Gendron) sat the two-hole trip to the opening quarter mile in :29.1.
With the race favorite, Precieuse CC (Claude Beausoleil) breaking stride and out of the race, Holiday Party (Pascal Berube), came first-over and tried to steal the lead from Caroluzzo and those two began battling it out as they passed the half mile marker in 1:00.
Those two continued to duel in the backstretch with the rest of the field trying to catch up. By the three-quarters in 1:29, Caroluzzo held game and forced Holiday Party to drop into second place.
On the final turn Caroluzzo and Simard began to pull away from the field to score a three and three-quarter length victory in 2:00.1. The 60-1 long shot, Stonebridge Alert (Stephane Brosseau) was second with Aworthy Bi (Daniel Laflamme) third.
It was the second straight win for Caroluzzo, an 11-year-old stallion by Musclesextrodinair, who was bred and is owned by Michael Cote Gagnon of Terrebonne. Caroluzzo paid $20.10 to win.
The Sunday Program at H3R features the first two-year-old race of 2020 in Quebec. The second race pace features six starters bred by many great champions including He's Watching, Control The Moment, Shanghai Phil, So Surreal, Western Mustang and Betterthancheddar.
The third race Preferred Trot sees the return of Ice O Late off his 2:01 triumph last week. There is also a Mares Preferred Pace for the sixth race and it features return winner Sieras Rose (post 8).
Track Notes: Stephane Brosseau led all drivers on the day with three winners. Trainers Francis Richard and Maxime Velaye both had two winners from their stable. Live racing resumes on Sunday. First race post time at 1:00 pm. For a free race program, visit www.hippodrome3r.ca.
From the Quebec Jockey Club