Throughout Europe, Australia and New Zealand, harness racing is held at various distances that can range from sprints of a half-mile to extra distance races as long as five miles.

But in North America nearly 99 percent of all harness racing events are held at just one mile with a few exceptions, and one of those exceptions is taking place at the Hippodrome 3R in Quebec on Sunday.

The eleventh race for pacers Sunday at H3R will go the extra distance at two miles and has 12 horses entered. And yet this race is only a "prep" for the upcoming August 13 five-mile race called 'Le 5 Milles' at the regional fair track of St-Aime des Lacs in Charlevoix, Quebec, where horses must pace ten laps.

This year the Le 5 Milles, one of the oldest stakes races in the sport, will feature its 106th edition. It is one of the oldest stakes races in North America.
Last year's two-mile winner, Strokin, set the world record on a half mile track at H3R with his victory in 4:02.4.

Strokin is not entered in this year’s event, but Sea Donkey, who won this race in 2014, is back to try again. He will start from post six for driver Pascal Berube. Also in 2015, Sea Donkey won the Le 5 Milles (five miles) race.

Over the past two years the world record has been broken in the two-mile race, it was Aarons Majesty and driver Denis St-Pierre who rewrote the mark in 2015, then rewritten again by Strokin in 2016.

The race favourite Sunday is Three Rockets from post 12 for driver Marie Claude Auger. This six-year-old gelding by Mach Three has three wins already this season, the fastest a 1:55.2 lifetime mark taken at Rideau Carleton. He also won a 1-1/2 mile race on the Quebec Regional Fair Circuit in 3:16 and impressively, was last year’s winner of Le 5 Milles.

Second choice is Mister Big Top from post ten for driver Stephane Gendron. He has won in 1:54.3 at Rideau this year and was a game second-place finisher in 1:54.1 just last week.

“I will see during the course of the race how it goes early on and then will deduce what will be best for the horse,” said Gendron. “I love this horse very much, and there is a lot of early speed in the race. I think I have a good chance, because we will be in the hunt starting from post ten, which is in the second tier, and my horse does not leave well. He usually always races from behind and closes strong.”

Other contenders include 1:57.2 winner last week at H3R, CF Sting Rei (Stephane Brosseau) in post nine and Shanghai Ben (Alain Carrier) from post eight.

Also on the program Sunday at H3R are six divisions of the C$220,000 Future Stars Series for two-year-old pacing colts and fillies. This is the second of three preliminary rounds leading towards the C$55,000 finals on September 3 for the top eight point earners from each division.

There are three of the four return winners back for round two of the series Sunday. They are fillies D Gs Shadowbell (post seven, third race), LaBalafre (post seven, fourth race) and the colt returning is Chloes Master (post one, seventh race). Missing is Stock, who won his division in 1:58.1. The Future Stars divisions are the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 12th races on the program.

Track Notes: This is the last live race program at H3R for the next two weeks due to the Grand Prix car racing that takes over most of the town of Trois-Rivieres. The next live program will be on Wednesday, August 16, when H3R hosts the fourth leg of the World Driving Championship, then that Sunday, August 20, is the $200,000 Prix D’Ete.

First race post time this Sunday is 12:30 p.m. For entries, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Hippodrome 3R.

(with files from the Quebec Jockey Club)