The Sunday afternoon (July 3) card at Hippodrome 3R featured three Preferred dashes, and driver Francis Picard made it a near sweep of the highlighted events.

Spectrum Seelster and Picard had no thought but to be fronting the $6,000 Preferred 2-3 Handicap Pace. They went quick fractions of :27.3, :56.4, and 1:25.4 but did not face great pressure. Coming through the stretch, Spectrum Seelster widened his margin as traffic woes hindered many foes, with Siddhartha second but still 5-1/2 lengths behind the victorious Mach Three gelding at the end of a 1:55.1 mile. Trainer Charles Gaudreault co-owns the winner of $135,069 with Daniel and Maxim Gaudreault.

Bonfire Bash drew the pylons in the $6,000 Preferred 2-3 Handicap Trot, and Picard took advantage by rushing the Angus Hall gelding away at the start. The pair got a literal and figurative break when early challenger Titans Dream went offstride at the eighth pole, and Bonfire Bash was able to set fractions of :28.4, :59.1 and 1:29.2 before taking a mark of 2:00.4. Favoured P C Heisenberg took the early pocket, sat there, then saw his stretch charge come up 1-1/2 lengths short against the Serge Houde trainee, owned by Gestion Michel Carrier Inc.

Driver Pascal Berube snagged the other feature, the $5,500 Fillies and Mares Preferred 3 Pace, with he Yankee Cam mare Sophies Cam, who was shuffled back in her start on Friday but went straight to the lead on Sunday. Sophies Cam got to the quarter in :28.3, then got soft middle fractions of :59.3 and 1:29.1 before sprinting home in :28.2 to leave the competition behind at the end of a 1:57.3 mile. Trainer Carl Duguay won with the mare, the betting favourite, in only her second start in his stable, boosting her lifetime earnings to $117,570 for owner Yvanhoe Landry.

Hippodrome 3R is currently racing on Fridays at 4 p.m. (EDT) and Sundays at 12 p.m. The rich Quebec-bred series for two- and three-year-olds begin on Friday (July 15).

To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Hippodrome 3R.

(with files from Quebec Jockey Club)