Bali was the 'fly in the ointment' towards who will be the winningest harness racing horse at the Hippodrome 3R 2016 race meet as the five-year-old gelding was given a strong drive by Mario Charron in capturing the 10th race co-feature pace on Sunday (September 25).
It was the sixth win at 3R this season and with the losses by both Beach Runner A M and St Kitts, all three horses are now tied with seven Sunday race programs left for the season at 3R.
Bali posted his 10th victory of the season in prime fashion as Charron sent the son of Dali right to the front. They then cut fractions of :28, :57 and 1:25.4, held off a strong first-over challenge by Solid Performance (Pascal Berube) and then pulled away in the stretch to win by two and three-quarter lengths in 1:54.4. Solid Performance held for second-place with the pocket-sitting SOS Mach Xreme (Stephane Brosseau) finishing third.
Trained by Marie Claude Auger for breeder/owner Denise Auger of Trois-Rivieres, Que., Bali earned his third straight victory and paid $9.30 to win.
Then in the 11th race co-feature, St Kitts and driver Stephane Brosseau sat a perfect two-hole trip behind pacesetter D Gs Ninja (Jonathan Lachance), but could not catch them in the passing lane, losing by one and three-quarter lengths in 1:59.3.
Thus the contest continues next Sunday at 3R to see who can become the winningest horse of the year at the track.
TRACK NOTES: Driver Stephane Gendron has only a handful of drives at the Hippodrome 3R Sunday, but he made the most of them, scoring four victories on the program from his seven drives. It was the first time this year that anyone other than Louis-Philippe Roy (three times) has won four races on the program. Both Stephane Brosseau and Mario Charron had driving doubles.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(With files from QJC)