The Québec Jockey Club was again forced to cancel holding qualifying races at Hippodrome 3R because of the pandemic.

The Québec Ministry of Health has yet to approve the return of live racing. Hippodrome 3R is scheduled to open on Sunday, May 2.

“We are trying our best,” said Claude Levesque, president of the Québec Jockey Club. “Murielle Thomassin heads our group that is constantly pressuring the government to allow us to start racing again.

“During our race meet last year, we did not have one case of COVID,” Levesque added. “We did all the proper protocols with our horse people, and it worked. We should be able to open for racing.”

Director of racing at Hippodrome 3R, Murielle Thomassin, is optimistic that racing will return for opening day.

“We are not postponing open day,” Thomassin said. “We are continuing to talk with health officials both locally and in the province, and are hopeful they will give us permission to race for next week’s scheduled qualifying races.

“If we can hold qualifiers next week,” Thomassin added, “we will have enough horses ready to race on May 2.”

For more information, visit www.hippodrome3r.ca.

(Québec Jockey Club)