Rivalries are great in all sports whether it be hockey, football, baseball or harness racing. And a major rivalry will continue Tuesday night at the Hippodrome 3R with the second round of the Quebec-Bred Series for four and five-year-old trotters.
There are two divisions, one for the mares and one for the horses and it is in the fifth race horse division that the rivalry will continue once again between Kinnder Dangerous, Holiday Party and Capteur De Reve.
These three horses have been battling for weeks and all three have captured one of their meetings.
Capteur De Reve, after two unsuccessful attempts in the Invitational-Handicapped Trot (he had post 8 both weeks), came to life in the opening round of the series for trainer Maxime Velaye.
It was an epic battle with rival Kinnder Dangerous as these two went head and head from after the half mile marker with Capteur De Reve digging in at the finish for a 2:00.1 triumph.
“He is feeling great,” Velaye said of Capteur De Reve. “Oh yeah is he ready for round 2 and I am pretty sure that Kinnder Dangerous and Holiday Party will also be ready to battle.”
This week, Capteur De Reve drew post six for driver Pierre Luc Roy and they are the morning line favourite.
“I was super happy that he was back to his old self last start,” Velaye explained. “We made a couple changes in shoeing and his bridle and put a head pole inside. So that combined with the super drive of Pierre Luc was the ingredients for our success two weeks ago.”
Kinnder Dangerous has his best starting position of season, drawing post two for driver Justin Filion. They lost their last start to Capteur De Reve by three-quarters of a length. Prior to that they were second also to Holiday Party in the Invitational-Handicapped.
In his first start of the season the four-year-old son of Northern Star not only won but scored a lifetime mark of 1:59.1 for owner, breeder, trainer Denitza Petrova.
And there is also Holiday Party who starts from post five for driver Pascal Berube. After winning two starts back in the Invitational Trot, he was third to Capteur De Reve and Kinnder Dangerous.
The trotting mares get underway in the third race where odds-on favourite will be Y S Suzanne, who starts from the rail for driver Guy Gagnon.
This superb mare by Angus Hall is trained and co-owned by Blake Curran of Perth, Ontario with Jason Jamieson. She now sports lifetime earnings of over $146,000.
Shipping back to H3R for the series from Rideau Carlton, Y S Suzanne is on a two-race winning streak. Just two starts back the five-year-old mare took her lifetime mark at Rideau in 1:56.2 and at H3R she led from start to finish in 2:00.2.
Other contenders in the race include Lucky Promesses (post 4), who was second to Y S Suzanne in their last start, Vanilla Star (post 3), a 2:01 winner in a qualifying race at H3R and Eau Naturelle (post two).
Post time Tuesday is 6:30 p.m. For a free race program, visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.
(Quebec Jockey Club)