Maximuscle’s victory in a $70,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold event at Mohawk this month meant a lot more than the purse to Quebec owner/breeder Guy Corbeil.

It was the first major stakes triumph in Ontario for one of Quebec’s most successful horsemen of the past 20 years, and it put his broodmare Iceberg Angus over the $1-million mark in progeny earnings.

“She’s 19. Every one of her babies took a mark. I retired her this year. She’s been very good to me and deserves a good retirement,” said Corbeil, one of the founders of the Quebec Jockey Club.

Maximuscle, a three-year-old Angus Hall trotter who’ll be in quest of a second consecutive Gold victory on Thursday at Rideau Carleton, isn’t the last of the line from Iceberg Angus. Corbeil’s got his two-year-old brother, Intouchable, as well as yearling and weanling fillies.

“I was late to start breeding outside the province when the races disappeared in Quebec and it cost me a couple of years, but things are going well now,” said Corbeil, who has a stable of 14 horses overseen by trainer Eric Valiquette.

As much as he enjoys seeing his horses compete in Ontario (where Eloge finished second in a $130,000 Gold final for pacing fillies two years ago), Corbeil’s priority remains Quebec, and he’s looking forward to the rich Quebec Series finals on Sept. 7 at Hippodrome 3R, where Maximuscle and Intouchable will get a chance to shine on home turf. Maximuscle won the $50,000 final last year at two, adding to Corbeil’s impressive string of major victories in his home province. He’s won numerous Coupe des Eleveurs finals and on two occasions, in 1996 and 2005, captured a pair of finals the same day at Hippodrome de Montreal.

(A Trot Insider Exclusive by Paul Delean)