The $120,000 Quebec-Bred Series for four and five-year-old pacers gets underway at the Hippodrome 3R on Sunday (May 22) with divisions for both horses and mares.
The series will feature four weeks of preliminary action with the top eight point-earners returning on Sunday, June 26 for their respective $30,000 finals.
The horses are in the limelight first in the sixth race when two-time series champion and track record holder, Atomic Million AM, takes on six rivals.
Last week, the five-year-old gelded son of Million Dollar Cam took the goose-egg off his five-race losing streak in his return to 3R, scoring a wire-to-wire triumph in 1:58.2. Add a track labeled 'good' with a two-second allowance and Atomic Million AM looks to be back in winning form at his home oval.
Atomic Million AM will start from post seven for driver Sylvain Lacaille and owner/trainer Alain Martin of Gatineau, Que., and rightly is the morning line wagering favourite at 5-2.
It may not be a “walk in the park” for Atomic Million AM, as he faces some strong competition from Rideau Carlton invader Killer Thriller (post three) for driver Stephane Brosseau. In his last start, Killer Thriller was able to wire the field in 1:55.2 for trainer Karen Kroeger.
Half A Billion ships in from Flamboro Downs with three wins already and was second last week, race timed in 1:56.1. He starts from post four for driver Louis-Philippe Roy. Other contenders include C L Art Magic (post one), Bali (post two) and Mach On The Beach (post five).
The mares battle in race nine with a full field of 10 starters headlined by the return of the top performer Wanda Bayama.
Bred and owned by Bayama Farms and trained and driven by harness racing’s newest Hall of Famer Yves Filion, Wanda Bayama starts from post seven, and after a two-month layoff, recently won a qualifying race at Rideau Carlton in 1:59.
The qualifier was not as impressive as before the four-year-old daughter of Western Ideal was rested, as she was on a two-race win streak at Woodbine Racetrack that included a victory in the $54,400 final of the HPIBet.com Series in a lifetime-best clocking of 1:51.4, which she first set the prior week in an elimination division. If Wanda Bayama races back to that form during the series, the track and stakes record of 1:54.1, set last year by My Tallia Ideal, could well pass by the wayside.
Other contenders in the race include Kinnder Elegance (post five), Big Bertha (post 2) and Chaleurs Fantasy (post four).
Post time for Sunday’s program is 1:30 p.m.
Live night racing at the Hippodrome 3R for the 2016 season begins this Tuesday, May 24 at 7 p.m. and to kick off the night program will be the start of the $120,000 Quebec-Bred Series for four and five-year-old trotters. The trotting division features the return of two-time series champion and track record holder Viva Bayama in the mares split and a classic match-up between three-time series champion Maximuscle against track record holder Seeyou Men in a three-horse non-wagering race for the males.
To view Sunday's harness racing entries, click on the following link: Sunday Entries - Hippodrome 3R.
(With files from QJC)