The best fast-class performers at Hippodrome 3R will be featured during the 12:00 race card on Sunday (July 3) with Preferred events for trotters, male pacers, and female pacers.
In the sixth race $6,000 Preferred 2-3 Handicap Trot, early favouritism has been given to P C Heisenberg, a Cornaro Dasolo gelding who will start from post five (the top win-producing post at 3R this season so far) for driver Jocelyn Gendron and trainer Mario Dumas, the latter co-owner with Andre Boucher. P C Heisenberg last week was a close second to the streaking Stella Alpha in the fastest trot mile of the year locally, 1:58; no doubt P C Heisenberg and his seven opponents will welcome the absence of Stella Alpha from this Sunday’s field.
The non-entry of a recently-dominant horse is also a theme in the two Preferred events for pacers. D Gs DeVito was not entered in the $6,000 Preferred 2-3 handicap pace for males in race eight, giving a better opportunity to early favourite Siddhartha. The So Surreal gelding held the fastest local mile of the year distinction at 1:54.4 until DGs De Vito left that far behind with a smashing 1:52.1 tally last week, with Siddhartha a game but distant second. This week, six-year-old Siddhartha will begin from post seven as the morning line favourite for driver/trainer/owner Louis Philippe Turcotte.
The 2-3-4 finishers behind red-hot La Petite Grise in Friday’s female feature will all have a better chance in Sunday’s $5,500 Preferred 3 mares pace since that streaking distaffer will not be coming right back. The Riverboat King mare Bettimontheriver sat second behind La Petite Grise Friday and was only 1-1/4 lengths behind her at the finish, but Bettimontheriver’s chance may be just as tough here as she begins from post seven in the eight-horse field for driver Jocelyn Gendron, trainer Yannick Martel, and owner James Martel.
Several younger horses on the card will be putting the finishing touches on their preparation for the Québec-bred stakes season, which begins Friday, July 15. In the paddock, they may be well-advised to stop by the stalls of two other Sunday 3R entrants: Atomic Million AM (race two), the only pacer to win four Québec championships in the modern era, and Wildwild Men (race six), a championship winner at ages two and four and still the 3R track record holder for two-year-old trotting geldings seven years afterwards.
Driver Pascal Berube, who had 37 winners through the first 14 cards of the year at 3R, will undoubtedly be looking to bounce back after a “slow” night Friday, during which his only winner was Le Petite Grise. Last week Berube and Samuel Fillion qualified at 3R for the National Driving Championship, with the top finalist in that event going on to the World Driving Championship in Italy next year.
Programs for Sunday’s card at Hippodrome 3R are available on 3R's website. To view the entries for Sunday, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Hippodrome 3R.
(QJC)