The little 3-year-old pacing filly Rainbow Palace put her two-race win streak against the boys at the Hippodrome 3R Sunday and came away with her third straight triumph in an exciting four-horse photo finish.
Owned and driven by Francis Picard for trainer Dominique Picard, Rainbow Palace started from the rail in the ninth race co-feature pace and got away in third place as Matts Phil (Pascal Berube) outgunned Shanghai Kang (Michel Nolette) as they sped to the opening quarter in :28.2.
Then as the field walked to the half-mile marker in :59.2, Picard came first-over with Rainbow Palace and then the pace quickened and Rainbow Palace could not gain on Matts Phil and settled into the two-hole before the three-quarters in 1:28.4.
But as the field came around the final turn, Picard sent Rainbow Palace out again and the filly responded, collaring Matts Phil as they started down the stretch.
Those two, along with Barre Oblique (Sylvain Lacaille) and Y S Joe (Stephane Brosseau) made for the close photo finish.
Rainbow Palace emerged the winner by a head with Y S Joe finishing fourth by just a half-length. Matts Phil was second with Barre Oblique third.
The time of the race was 1:58.3. It was the third win in seven starts this year for Rainbow Palace as she preps for the upcoming Quebec-Bred Series.
The daughter of Royal Mattjesty is owned by Francis Picard of Warwick, QC. She paid $4.60 to win.
The third race co-feature trot saw a real dogfight early on as Beer Maggs (Kevin Maguire) got the early lead but Somoli E (Jerome Lombart) wanted the front and Beer Maggs made him pay, parking him to the opening quarter in :28 and then to the half in :57.1 before Somoli E cleared to the lead.
Meanwhile, sitting in third place the entire time was R Rkadabra and driver Stephane Gendron. Now it was their turn to take command and they shot to the lead by the three-quarters in 1:28.2 and breezed homed to win by 1-3/4 lengths in 1:58.4.
Beer Maggs was second with Erge Baboche (Stephane Brosseau) third.
A 7-year-old gelded son of Kadabra, it was the second straight win and third victory in the last four starts for K Rkadabra.
He is trained and owned by Marc Lemay and paid $4.10 to win.
Live harness racing resumes at the Hippodrome 3R on Wednesday with a special post time of 1:30 p.m. For more information visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.