Perennial Hippodrome 3R driving champion Pascal Berube celebrated his 52nd birthday on Sunday, Sept. 29 in a big way, winning six of the 10 races he competed in.

Berube, who hails from Portneuf, Que., is well on his way in winning his fifth straight driving title at 3R. He leads 62-50 over Marie-Claude Auger. It was the first time this season that anyone has won six races on one card at the Trois-Rivières oval.

One of Berube’s six winners on the 12-race card was in the seventh race feature, a $5,000 Open Pace for two-year-old fillies, as race favourite Simply The Best (pictured above) led from start to finish in a romp by 4-1/2 lengths in 1:58.2. Silver Majesty (Denis St. Pierre) was second with Justine Ray (Daniel Laflamme) third.

The win was the fourth win from nine starts for Simply The Best, a daughter of All Bets Off who is trained by Marc-Andre Simoneau for Aurel Harvey Et Fils Inc.. She paid $4.90 to win.  

Berube also drove eight-year-old pacing gelding Joltin Joe ($6.50) to victory in the opener for Simoneau, who is now tied with David Pilon for first place in the trainer standings, each with 23 wins.

Berube completed a sweep of the early Daily Double with a win aboard sophomore gelding Watcha Strikesfame ($2.80) for trainer Jean-Louis Laflamme.

He also picked up victories with Masterwork ($9) in the fourth race as the three-year-old trotter made his 3R debut for the Jean-Francois Maguire stable, pacing mare N C Rockabye ($6) in the sixth race for trainer Germain Chabot and the distaff pacer Alessandra ($4.30) in the ninth race for conditioner Alain Filion.

Trainer Sophie Messier of Drummondville, Que. sent out her first pari-mutuel winner when Indigo Seelster ($16.70) and driver Jessica Turenne won the third race pace in 1:58.2. The 32-year-old horsewoman, who won the 16th start of her training career, co-owns the Camluck gelding with Johanne Sansoucy.

Next week, 3R will have a special Saturday afternoon race program starting at 1 p.m., featuring the finals of the Quebec Regional Fair Circuit. Then on Sunday, it’s the final stakes day of the 2024 season at 3R, featuring the $60,000 Brian Paquet Memorial Invitational Trot and Pace plus the $30,000 Lucien Bombardier Memorial for two-year-old pacing fillies. Post time on Sunday is 12 noon. 

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

(With files from Quebec Jockey Club)