Kinnder Motown kicked off the Breeders Trophy Series for three-year-old trotters with an easy four-length victory at Hippodrome 3R on Friday, July 14.
Kinnder Motown won the first of two $7,500 opening round divisions of the series for male trotters. The third race got underway with Auguste (Stephane Brosseau) shooting to the early lead with Kinnder Motown and driver Robert Shepherd getting away in second place, but not for long as Shepherd kept Kinnder Motown to the outside and took the lead away from Auguste by the opening quarter-mile in :31.1. Kinnder Motown then cruised to the half-mile in 1:02 and three-quarters in 1:32 with no real challenges from the rest of the field and romped to a 2:01.3 victory. Auguste was second with March Seven (Carl Duguay third.
The win was the fourth (consecutive) from five starts for Kinnder Motown. The Muscle Mass gelding was unraced as a two-year-old. Trained by Isabelle Darveau for owner Rejean Lemieux of Quebec City, Kinnder Motown was sent off as the overwhelming 1-9 race favourite and paid just $2.20 to win.
The second $7,500 division for the colts and geldings was the seventh race and the even-money favourite, last year’s champion two-year-old Timonier, went off-stride right at the start of the race and was out of contention. C Un Bon Deal (Jerome Lombart) got to the early lead with Free Wheels (Herve Kirouac) in the pocket at the first quarter in a speedy :28.4.
C Un Bon Deal cut the mile to the half in 1:00 as Wolinak (Robert Shepherd) started up first-over with BBC Sportsboy with trainer/driver Marc Belanger second-over as the field entered the backstretch.
Wolinak was able to clear by C Un Bon Deal as BBC Sportsboy moved three-wide nearing the three-quarters in 1:29.3. Then Wolinak went off-stride and that left just C Un Bon Deal on the inside and BBC Sportsboy on the outside on the final turn for home. Those two raced as a team until mid-stretch when BBC Sportsboy wore down C Un Bon Deal to win by three-quarters of a length in 2:01.2. Free Wheels was third.
The win was the second in eight starts for BBC Sportsboy, who is co-owned by Belangers and partners Andre Beaudoin and Jean Louis Chartier. A Wheeling N Dealin gelding who also went unraced as a two-year-old, he paid $17.10 to win.
There was just one field of three-year-old fillies in the fifth race for a purse of $10,000 in the Breeders Trophy Series and the race belonged to Kenogami Courage and driver Stephane Brosseau.
Dont Treat Me Bad (Jocelyn Gendron) inherited the early lead when Sant Ambroggio (Francis Picard) jumped off-stride with the lead on the first turn. Then Kenogami Courage advanced on the outside at the first quarter in :29.4 to take command.
Going to the half-mile marker, Apocalypse Alpha (Pascal Berube) tried a first-over move to no avail as the field went by the half-mile in 1:00.2.
By the three-quarters in 1:31.3, it became a two-horse race to the finish, but Dont Treat Me Bad could not gain enough ground on Kenogami Courage, who won by a half-length in 2:01.2. Duende (Jimmy Gagnon) finished back in third.
After going two-for-five as a rookie, Kenogami Courage has added three wins from nine starts this year to her record. Jean-Francois Maguire trains the Lookslikeachpndale filly, who is owned by Brosseau and partners Jean-Francois Reid, Marie-Claude Reid and Maurice Houle. She paid $3.40 to win as the race favourite.
Recovering from an early misstep, Capteur De Reve and driver Stephanie Brosseau sat a pocket trip in the $7,000 Preferred Handicap Trot then caught pacesetter Fix A Drink (Marie-Claude Auger) to win by a neck in 1:59, paying $6.10 to win. Maxime Velaye trains the homebred nine-year-old Muscle Mass gelding for Ecurie Provoquante.
Richard Bedard celebrated his first career training win during Friday's card as Dreamfair Rosebud survived an overland journey to win the fourth race by two lengths in 2:00.2 with Marc Belanger in the bike. Bedard trains the eight-year-old Shadow Play mare, who paid $7.20 to win as the 5-2 favourite, for owner Nancy Lord.
Brosseau and Shepherd both ended the day with driving triples while Belanger had a driving double.
Live harness racing resumes on Sunday, July 16 at 12 noon with a 10-race program featuring the opening round of the Breeders Trophy Series for three-year-old pacing colts and fillies. The first leg is headlined by the colt and filly champions from 2022, Albert Alpha and Pocohontas Du Lac. For a free race program, visit hippodrome3r.ca.
To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(With files from Quebec Jockey Club)