After Guy Gagnon opened the Sunday, June 1 card at Rideau Carleton Raceway with six straight driving victories, the hot-handed horseman later returned to the winner's circle two more times at the end of the 10-race card with his own trainees.

Rideau Carleton Raceway's leading driver kicked off the night with the John MacMillan-trained three-year-old pacing gelding Farmerdontdilydali ($10.10) in a maiden-breaking 1:57.1 score. 

His streak included a pair of Mandy Archer-trained pacers, sophomore Wicked Move ($4.20) and five-year-old Tignanello ($2.20), winning with the former for the second week in a row and picking up the live catch-drive on the latter, who was claimed for $25,000. Gagnon also drove the Archer-owned seven-year-old pacer Captainofrocknroll ($3.20), a repeat winner co-owned and trained by Jacob Copley.

He partnered up with three-year-old pacing filly My Midnight Lover ($2.60) for the first time and the Eric Lafleur trainee took a new lifetime mark of 1:55.2. The Macy Cassell stable's nine-year-old pacer Rock N Zeus ($9.50) was another winner in Gagnon's streak.

The Gatineau, Que. horseman later capped off the card driving a pair of winners from his own stable. 

Trained and reined by Gagnon, The Light Speed ($2.60) dominated the evening's featured $10,000 Preferred Handicap Pace in 1:52.3, earning his 65th career win for owner/breeder Michel Nolette.

Gagnon put an exclamation point on the night, taking the finale with Dylans Bank ($4.90) in a 5-3/4-length romp and meeting up again in the winner's circle with MacMillan, owner of the eight-year-old pacer who has now won three races in a row.

With a grand total of eight driving wins on the program, Gagnon was just one win off his personal best and modern day Canadian record of nine wins on a single card. He previously won nine races on Dec. 6, 2020 at Rideau to match the Canadian record held by Kevin Wallis (Aug. 22, 2004 at Windsor Raceway) and Gerry Belanger (Aug. 2, 2006 at Sudbury Downs).

Gagnon is in the midst of his ninth straight season with a UDRS over .400 and currently leads all drivers with a minimum of 105 starts nation-wide with a UDRS of .443. The two-time O'Brien Award of Horsemanship winner started the year with 6,200 career driving wins and has since earned 61 more victories. He's driven horses to more than $30.5 million in purses lifetime.

Pascal Berube halted the early Gagnon streak driving Silver Beast ($11.80) after a big day of his own, winning five of the 10 races at Hippodrome 3R. The only other driver to get a photo op on the Rideau card was Ryan Guy in rein to Stonebridge Hermes ($5.20) with Gagnon the runner-up in that race aboard his trainee Flash Cube before going on to sweep the late Daily Double.

To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Rideau Carleton Raceway.

(Standardbred Canada; photo of The Light Speed winning on June 1)