Chaleurs Fantasy’s will put her perfect seasonal record on the line on Sunday (June 12) at the Hippodrome 3R in the third round of the Quebec-Bred Series for four and five-year-old pacers.
Both of her wins so far in 2016 have come in the series and both have been against the race favourite Wanda Bayama. But there is no Wanda Bayama in the series this week.
Now Chaleurs Fantasy is the race favourite on Sunday in the sixth race co-feature event. She will start from post six after a week’s vacation from racing for trainer/driver Carl Duguay. The five-year-old daughter of Omar Khayam is owned and was bred by Elevage Baie Des Chaleurs of Port-Daniel, Que., and won her two starts in 1:57.3 and 1:58.
Second choice in the race is last year’s series champion, Voodoo Charm, from post seven for driver Mario Charron and trainer Maxime Velaye.
HP Rubis Joyce will be making her debut in the series after an impressive win last week at 3R for trainer/co-owner Nathalie Migneault. Last Tuesday, the daughter of Perfect Union was given a sharp drive by Louis-Philippe Roy, leaving and grabbing the two-hole, then getting parked out to the half, grabbing the lead and then pulling away from the field for a seven and one-quarter length triumph in 1:58.3. She will start from post eight.
The horses and geldings do battle in a non-wagering race that takes place between the fifth and sixth races on the program.
Last year's series champion Sugarsam will try and get the goose-egg off his win column after nine unsuccessful starts in 2016. The Yves Tessier trainee will start from post five for driver Denis St-Pierre after finishing third last week in the series to Electric Western and Atomic Million AM in a 1:55 mile. With both of those top pacers skipping the third leg of the series, Sugarsam looms the logical choice as he faces challenges from Mach On The Beach (post one), D Gs Justlikethat (post 4) and overnight return winner My Lucky Bluejeans (post three).
After the fourth and final preliminary round next week, the top eight finalists will return on Sunday, June 26 for the $35,000 finals of the series in each respective division per gait and gender.
Post time is 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. For a free race program and live video streaming of the race program, visit quebecjockeyclub.com.
To view Sunday's harness racing entries, click on the following links: Sunday Entries / Sunday Non-Wagering Entries.
(With files from QJC)