Driver Steven Gagnon's Kiss Me Bad continued to dominate in the Series Quebecoises distaff pacing division, scoring a third round victory by nearly a half-dozen lengths, while driver Stephane Brosseau took the two other series splits amid a five-win performance on Sunday afternoon, June 22 at Hippodrome 3R.
After a brief tuck into third position off the gate from the outermost post five, Gagnon had 2-5 favourite Kiss Me Bad (pictured above) on the move through a soft :30.1 quarter and took over command from early leader Mach N Cheddar (David Pilon), a round two winner, as they raced past the midway mark in 1:00.1. She cleared heading into the backstretch to three-quarters in 1:29.1 and kept on rolling in a 1:57.4 romp, stretching her lead to 5-3/4 lengths with a :28.3 final quarter. Ronda Du Lac (Pascal Berube) and Irish Mary (Carl Duguay) rounded out the top three finish order.
Perfect through three preliminary legs of this year's series, the former 2023 series champion Kiss Me Bad now has 28 career wins with more than $120,000 in earnings. Daniel Mondou trains the nine-year-old daughter of Badlands Hanover out of Helen Of Troy.
The mares were split into two $6,000 eliminations in the third leg with the other going to even-money favourite Godro Betts Off after winning a photo finish in a career-best 1:58.3 for the hot-handed Stephane Brosseau over GA Speed Matrix (Jocelyn Gendron).
Godro Betts Off tracked the cover of Better Kissthe Men (Simon Delisle) into the backstretch the final time before rallying three-wide and collaring the pacesetting GA Speed Matrix (:29, :59.2, 1:28.2) following a pair of top three finishes in the first two legs. Better Kissthe Men was third.
Michel Ouimet owns and trains the All Bets Off-Quite A Shock mare, who earned the first win of her five-year-old campaign and now has four wins from just 25 career starts with $17,575 in earnings.
Brosseau was back in the series spotlight with Ritchie Alpha after a 1:55.1 triumph in the lone male pacing division.
Moving first-up from third at the completion of the first lap, Ritchie Alpha went head-to-head with the :58 first-half leader, Ambitious Mind (Francis Picard), as they battled to three-quarters 1:27 while Albert Alpha (William Roy), a 25-1 upsetter in last Sunday's leg and the even-money choice this week, rallyed three-wide then slipped into the widening two-hole as Ritchie Alpha took off. Closing out the mile with a :28.1 quarter, Ritchie Alpha won by 3-1/2 lengths as the 7-2 third choice over Alberta Alpha, with Ambitious Mind third.
Emma Bouchard trains and owns Ritchie Alpha, who was third in the opening leg and a closing fourth in round two. Now three-for-eight this year, the six-year-old Shanghai Phil-Miss Surprise gelding has won 17 times overall with earnings totalling $58,907.
Brosseau drove three other popular winners on the 10-race card, including his own trainee Self Made, along with Mybitcoin for conditioner Clement Lauzon Authier and Southwind Leo for the Martin Bedard stable.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(Standardbred Canada)