On Saturday evening (Nov. 28) at 7 p.m., the annual Gala des Champions awards presentations for the 2020 harness racing season in Québec will take place with a virtual Facebook Live show on the Hippodrome 3R Facebook page.

It is this evening that racing fans will be able to attend the special edition of the Gala des Champions, pandemic obliged.

Obviously, not a big gathering, not even a simple gathering, but a celebration that aims to unite everyone, amateurs or professionals of the industry, in front of their computer screens with track announcer Guy LaFontaine being the host of the show.

Setting up such an organization in a time of a pandemic has not been easy. Murielle Thomassin, director of racing at Hippodrome 3R, has already been working on this project for several weeks, assisted by the technical team at the racecourse.

“With the season being so special in so many ways,” Thomassin explained, “I wanted to be sure to recognize the most deserving achievements among our horse people in the industry. It was important for me, for the Québec Jockey Club as well, to show our admiration and gratitude to all these people."

Inspired by what is happening at the O’Brien Awards by Standardbred Canada, H3R took up the formula. A committee of people close to the racing show presented this year, selected names for each of the nine categories.

Here are the nominees in each category:

Trainer of the Year
Francis Richard
Maxime Velaye

Driver of the Year
Pascal Berube
Stephane Brosseau

Rookie of the Year
Samuel Fillion
Steven Gagnon

Caretaker of the Year
Dominique Michel
Wendy St-Pierre

Breeder of the Year
Claude Hamel
Denitza Petrova

Trotter of the Year
Kinnder High Class (10-7-1-1, $52,933, 1.58.1, Denitza Petrova stable)
Precieuse CC (14-1-4-1, $10,581, 1.57.3, Claude Beausoleil stable)

Pacer of the Year
Enavant (7-7-0-0, $11,950, 1.54.3, Maxime Velaye stable)
Mickeymaksomespeed (11-7-0-0, $18,999, 1.54.3, Michel Allard stable)

Owner of the Year
Brian Paquet
Denitza Petrova

The Gala de Champions starts promptly at 7 p.m. Saturday evening and can be viewed live on the Hippodrome 3R Facebook Page.

(Québec Jockey Club)