At the Hippodrome 3R on Sunday, Windsun Cheyenne is a standout veteran pacer moving up in class to the Preferred 3 ranks for owner-trainer Gina Bragagnolo of Lavaltrie (June 11).
At the age of 12, the gelded son of Cams Card Shark is four years the senior of any of the six rivals in the third race. Since coming back to H3R, Windsun Cheyenne has been on a roll for the track’s leading driver, Pascal Berube. Over the past five starts, Windsun Cheyenne has had four wins and one second place finish. In fact, one of his four wins occurred on the May 1 Opening Day at H3R.
Of the four victories, the fastest clock time was 1:56 on May 22 when he was parked out to the first quarter, then wired the field to go onto win.
There was a time when Windsun Cheyenne would compete weekly and was very competitive in the Open Class at H3R. Now, with age beginning to set in, Windsun Cheyenne is not as fast as he used to be. His lifetime mark was in 1:53.2 at the age of eight.
Yet, despite the age difference, Windsun Cheyenne does have a zest for racing and a desire for competition. He does his best racing on the front-end as evident by his five wins this year, almost each one on the lead by the half mile marker.
On Sunday, starting from post four, Windsun Cheyenne is the morning line favourite as he should be. Already this season, he has beaten five of his six rivals in the race. Adding another win to his scoreboard could be on his radar.
In the sixth race, the Preferred 2 Pace, Siddhartha and driver Steve Genois look for a repeat performance from post five. In the last start, the eight-year-old gelding by So Surreal was able to grind it out first-over and still come on in the stretch to win by a neck in 1:55.
From post four, Mickeymaksomespeed just missed the board his last two starts for Kiwon Waldron with two fourth place finishes and is in a position to rally.
The mares go head-to-head in the seventh race in the Preferred 3 Mares Pace where Platine Alpha, out of post position four, races back on just two days rest after winning the Mares Preferred 2 Pace at H3R on Friday in 1:58.2. Trained by Sylvain Tremblay and his Alpha Stable, Platine Alpha came first-over against La Petite Grise and held her ground, winning by a half-length. She will be driven Sunday by Pascal Berube and goes against rivals Molly Kool (Post 3), who also raced Sunday and was third to Platine Alpha, and Fancy Girl (Post 1).
First race post time at H3R on Sunday is 12:00 noon. For a free race program, visit the H3R website.
(With files from the Quebec Jockey Club)