"It’s the best I can remember since the days of (Garland Lobell trotters) SOS Ninja and SOS Firefly in the '90s. We’ve had a lot of setbacks but I still love the game."

For Montreal racehorse owner Gaétan Bono, it’s been a September to remember.

Already this month, he’s won the $35,200 Lucien Bombardier Stakes and $55,000 Quebec-bred Series final at Hippodrome 3R with two-year-old pacing filly Miss Babe Delight, a $55,000 Quebec-bred Series final with two-year-old pacing gelding Mr Mach Jimmy, and a $20,000 Mohawk conditioned event for mares with five-year-old pacer Victoria Semalu.

For someone who’s endured a lot of lean stretches over a quarter-century in the racing business, and persevered even when the industry in his home province collapsed in 2008, it’s a welcome run of good fortune.

"I take my hat off to Tony Infilise and the people at the Quebec Jockey Club for giving the game a chance to stay alive in the province of Quebec” said Bono, 63, who runs a large fruit and vegetable business. "I believe in these guys. They are bringing the game back.”

Bono has a dozen broodmares and an eight-horse racing stable, trained by Dany Fontaine. Miss Babe Delight and Mr Mach Jimmy have been stopped for the year after their recent victories, in the hope they’ll come back strong in 2016 after earning $66,400 and $40,910 respectively at two.

Victoria Semalu could still hit six figures this year. She’s won seven races and contributed $77,219 so far. Not bad for a horse that Bono acquired fully for a bottle of wine - “although it was very nice bottle.”

Bono used to co-own the filly with Luc Paiement, son of breeder Lucien Paiement, but after she suffered an injury at three that sidelined her for all of 2014, Paiement signed her over to Bono.

Since returning to the races this year, the American Ideal mare has hit the board in 14 of 19 starts.

For every pleasant surprise, however, there’s inevitably a disappointment. For Bono, it was the loss of two-year-old trotting gelding Dancers Touch, a homebred son of Andover Hall who collapsed and died after a race at Mohawk in August. He’d been race-timed in 1:59.1 finishing third in his first start, and “looked like a top one…my dream come true,” Bono said.

(A Trot Insider Exclusive by Paul Delean)