Mother Nature provided a beautiful sunny afternoon for the return of fans to Hippodrome 3R on Saturday (June 12).
Before the first race went off at 1:00 p.m., more than 100 fans were already at the track and there were still more than 50 cars parked in the backstretch with fans watching the live harness racing card on lawn chairs through the fence.
The special Saturday afternoon program was devoted to the Quebec Regional Fair Circuit as will the races again next Saturday (June 19).
Two-year-old trotters and pacers made their pari-mutuel debuts and both the trot and the pace were won by horses bred, owned and trained by Sylvain Tremblay and his Alpha Stable of Metabetchouan.
In the second race trot for the babies, Stella Alpha (Pascal Berube) was stretched out going to the opening quarter mile by Crazy Lilly (Sylvain Fontaine), but once on the lead the filly by Royalty For Life – Éclair Chocolat led the rest of the way, winning by one and one-half lengths in 2:10.2.
Crazy Lilly was second with LA Surprenante (Simon Delisle) third.
The two-year-old pace also saw Ritchie Alpha (Pascal Berube) parked out to the opening quarter mile by Girl Scout Cookie (Marie Claude Auger) before taking command and leading the rest of the way with a 2:03.2 triumph by three lengths. Girl Scout Cookie held for second with Godiva Me Amour (Stephane Brosseau) third.
Trainer Sylvain Tremblay also started a two-year-old pacing colt against three-year-olds in the first race and Titanium Alpha, a son of Hes Watching, nearly wired the field with Berube in the sulky, losing by one length to the favourite, sophomore Super FM (Samuel Fillion) in 2:01.
Perhaps the most exciting race of the day was the eighth race pace for amateur drivers.
Ghislain Paquet, a prominent internet journalist who covers harness racing in Quebec, guided Yankee Up to a come-from-behind victory in 1:58. Yankee Up paid $7.40 to win.
Track Notes: Driver Pascal Berube and trainer Sylvain Tremblay each sent out three winners on the afternoon.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Hippodrome 3R with a 10-race card that will get underway at 12:30 pm. Featured will be two Preferred-Handicapped pacing events for the horses and mares. For more information or a free race program, visit hippodrome3r.ca.
To view the results for Saturday's card, click the following link: Saturday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(with files from the Quebec Jockey Club)