Twenty-year-old trainer Jonathan Lapointe enjoyed a perfect night at Hippodrome 3R, doubling his career win count, with his stable going three-for-three during Wednesday's eight-race card.
Lapointe scored wins with his own pacer Hellaspoppin ($3.40, Louis Philippe Roy) as well as Dream Sena ($5.90, Mario Charron) and Icare De Chafra ($5.40, Stephane Brosseau), both owned by Chantal Emond of Lavaltrie, Que.
Kim Sorel and driver/trainer Martin Gingras swept three-wide on the final turn and were able to scoot by the field in the stretch to win the fourth race feature trot.
Then the duo faced a 10 minute long objection as the judges viewed an incident where Kim Sorel may have pulled too early and interfered with a trailing horse, but they were found to be OK and declared the race winners.
Sent off at odds of 15-1, Kim Sorel paid $33.90 to win.
The race saw three lead changes by the half-mile marker as SOS Afterthestorm (Francis Picard) led after the start and was overtaken by SOS Ticket Master (Stephane Brosseau) by the opening quarter-mile. Then it was the roan horse, Erge Jack, with driver Pascal Berube coming first-over and they got to the lead before the half-mile pole.
Then Kim Sorel moved to the outside in the backstretch and caught cover when SOS Ticket Master pulled the pocket to challenge. It was after the three-quarter-mile on the final turn when Gingras tipped three-wide with Kim Sorel and went on to win by one length over SOS Afterthestorm with Erge Jack third.
Fractions were :29.3, 1:00.4, 1:31.4 and a final time in 2:03.
The win was the first in two starts this year for Kim Sorel, a four-year-old mare by Taurus Dream, who is owned by Claude Nadeau of Sorel-Tracy, Que.
This was the first Wednesday night live program of the Hippodrome 3R season and what better way to kick off the racing action than with a 30-1 longshot winning in the very first race?
SOS Revange and driver Francine Morrissette put the toteboard to work, leading from start to finish in a five-length romp. They paid $63.00 to win.
Live harness racing resumes at the Hippodrome 3R on Sunday afternoon, with first race post time at 1:30 p.m.
To view Wednesday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Wednesday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(With files from QJC)