During the 2014 and 2015 harness racing season at Hippodrome 3R in Trois-Rivieres, Que., the household name at the track was driver Denis St. Pierre.
St. Pierre, now age 62, who was born and raised in Montreal, was on a roll, winning back-to-back driving titles at 3R and in 2015 scored a career milestone, notching his 4,000th driving victory.
For the past nine years, St. Pierre has been missing from the driver’s colony at 3R, competing mainly in Ontario, but that has all changed for 2024.
“The main reason I have returned to Hippodrome 3R is that I really was missing my family and my home town of Montreal,” said St. Pierre. “Back in 2016, one of my owners wanted to buy Ontario-sired babies to race and there were nice classes for my horses on the B tracks in Ontario. That is why I left 3R.
“I never got much of a break there,” added St. Pierre.
Now, returning to 3R, St. Pierre has three drives on the opening day card this Sunday, May 5. How was the reaction when people first saw him at the 3R qualifying races?
“People were reacting well I think,” said St. Pierre. “I hope to get more drives each week and soon I will bring two of my own horses to race there.”
St. Pierre will have his work cut out for him at 3R this season. Driver Pascal Berube is going for his fifth straight driving title. Other drivers returning include Stephane Brosseau, Jocelyn Gendron, Marie-Claude Auger, Robert Shepherd, Francis Picard and a host of other young and upcoming drivers. It will not be an easy task to get catch-drives.
“I will have to be very competitive,” noted St. Pierre. “And I need to win some races and then I am sure the trainers and owners will notice and I will get more drives.”
There are 10 races scheduled at 3R for opening day on Sunday. All 10 races are full fields with either eight or nine starters in each contest.
Does St. Pierre feel he has a shot at winning one of his three drives on Sunday?
“I think in the very first race I have a good chance with Shanghaigold,” said St. Pierre. “He won his qualifying race for Pascal Berube in 2:00.4, the last quarter in :29. But he has the far outside post eight. That will be the difficult part to overcome, but we will see.
“I just love Quebec,” added St. Pierre. “I have such good memories of driving at Trois-Rivieres and look forward to my return on Sunday.”
First race post time on Sunday is at 12 noon. For a free race program, visit hippodrome3R.ca. To view Sunday's entries, click one of the following links: Hippodrome 3R - Sunday Entries // TrackIT Program Pages.
(Quebec Jockey Club; photo of Denis St. Pierre winning at 3R with Boogie Panic in 2014)