The Hippodrome 3R closed out its 2016 live harness racing program on Sunday (November 13) with free race programs, leading driver and trainer honours, a special tribute to longtime horseman Wellie Bélanger and winner’s circle presentations to two 14-year-old horses on their retirement from racing.
The festivities got underway at noon when leading driver Louis-Philippe Roy was signing autographs for the race fans in the grandstand. Roy, who added one more win on the card in the first race, concluded his breakthrough season at 3R with 59 wins. Stephane Gendron finished second in the standings with 41 wins. Roy is also the current leading driver at Rideau Carlton Raceway. Roy will be leaving Quebec next month to ply his skills at The Meadowlands and Yonkers Raceway.
Trainer Yves Tessier had the winningest stable at 3R this season with 26 victories. He added two on closing day. Defending champion Maxime Velaye was second with 20 wins.
One of the best trotters ever bred in Quebec, Pablo Angus, showed some of his back class in the fourth race trot, his final pari-mutuel race of his career. He is 14-year-old and must retire from racing on January 1, 2017.
Starting from the rail for driver Pascal Berube, Pablo Angus made a quarter move to blow by both Federal (Stephane Brosseau) and SOS Justice (Sylvain Fontaine) by the opening quarter-mile in :29.2, led to the half in 1:00.2, then gave way to Federal in the backstretch.
Federal went on to win the race, but Pablo Angus was game and held on for a third-place finish.
Pablo Angus, a son of Fortuna Winner from the Garland Lobell mare, Heliante Angus, was bred by the Fermes Angus Farms of Bedford, Que. and has been owned the last nine years by Mario Bourgea of Stanbridge East, Que. He has been trained by Gerald Woodberry
A career winner of $819,003, Pablo Angus gives true meaning to the phrase “war horse” as he has raced every year of his career. The only season he did not win a race was in 2011 when he made just one start.
At age two, three and four, Pablo Angus was a major stakes winner, mainly at his home track, the Hippodrome de Montreal where, at age four, he took his lifetime mark of 1:53.2. Then during his aged career, he travelled to New York where he won in the Open Trots numerous times at both Yonkers and Saratoga Raceways. The veteran trotter was a track record holder at 3R and still holds many track records on the Quebec Regional Fair Circuit.
Charlottes Tazman may not have had as big a career at the races as Pablo Angus did, but the 14-year-old pacer put in another game effort in his final start of his career in the fifth race.
He showed some great late foot for driver Pierre Luc Roy late in the mile, but was caught behind horses in the stretch and finished fourth.
The gelded son of Largo from the Big Towner mare, Tasmania Hanover, retires with career earnings of $113,091 and has a lifetime mark of 1:53.4. He was bred by Alfred Moeller of Mount Hebron, N.B. and is owned by Daniel Cochrane of Trois-Rivieres, Que. He has been trained by Michel Grenier.
Charlottes Tazman raced every year but 2011 during his career. He has grind it out every season and took his record at age three, winning eight times that year in his lone season in the U.S.A. at Rockingham Park. He raced most of his career in Canada.
The eighth race on Sunday honoured longtime and popular Quebec horseman Wellie Bélanger, whose passion for racing transcended seven decades. He passed away on October 25 at age 96.
It was at the age of 20 that Mr. Bélanger acquired his first horses, the first of a long list to date with DGs Mach Beach and EF Gaspesien. He was quick to want to involve himself in the races by driving his horses.
Great horses marked this illustrious career including Wizard Almahurst, Buzzeo, and the great trotter, Napoletano, whom he had found with Albert Bertrand, resold and was later ceded to the Swedes for $4 million. Napoletano was an exceptional trotter, who had a great history, racing alongside the great Ourasi and Mack Lobell in the March of Dimes in 1988.
His wife, Mrs. Jeannette, described him as a man of great class (he would abandon his tie under any circumstances), an honest man, charming, often funny. A gentleman who was a pleasure to be around. He is also survived by his children, Rodrigue, Denyse, Réjeanne, Steeve and Mauritius.
Stephane Gendron had the hot hands at 3R on Sunday, winning three races on the closing day program.
For the daily simulcasting schedule, check out the Hippodrome 3R website at quebecjockeyclub.com.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(With files from QJC)