East Rutherford, NJ — Long shot Sweet Lovin Lou disrupted a three-prong stretch sprint of the betting favorites with a bold brush over the top to win the $310,750 Grade 2 Cane Pace, for pacing 3-year-olds, in a lifetime-best 1:47.3 effort on Saturday (Aug. 8) at the Meadowlands.
With Tim Tetrick picking up the drive for sidelined Scott Zeron, Sweet Lovin Lou took back from post 4 to race last in the quintet while an early scuffle ensued through a :27.1 first quarter. Meadowlands Pace champ Brandon Blvd, off the 3-5 favorite, pushed forward but yielded to outside pursuers Odds On Mr Mamba and Gentleman’s Club, with the latter sweeping to the top, in the backstretch.
Gentleman’s Club cut a :54.1 half with the field single-file and readied for attacks in the last turn. Odds On Mr Mamba loomed out of the pocket with Brandon Blvd carried three-wide by three-quarters in 1:21.1 all while Tetrick gathered the strongest momentum with Sweet Lovin Lou from the back. By the eighth pole, Sweet Lovin Lou reached his best stride and barreled by a game Gentleman’s Club to win by three-quarters of a length with Brandon Blvd settling for third and Odds On Mr Mamba back in fourth.
“I’ve watched him go, and he can sprint fast,” Tetrick said after the race. “I was a little worried at the quarter when they only went [:]27.1, but then they started mixing it up. I still felt pretty confident going into the last turn, and this horse really flew through the stretch. When I got the plugs out and I followed Brandon Blvd up there, he got right up on him when I asked him to.”
Daniel Lagace trains Sweet Lovin Lou, a colt by Sweet Lou-Lover’s Dream, for owners Lagace Stables, Edwin Buhler, Big Als Stables and Brittany Farms Micki Rae. The colt won his second race from nine starts this season with his lone other win being his previous lifetime best, a 1:48.2 effort to take an elimination of the North America Cup at Woodbine Mohawk Park. He also collected his fifth win from 18 starts in his career, pushing his earnings to $463,812. Sent the second longest shot in the betting, Sweet Lovin Lou paid $30.60 to win.