This Friday afternoon, July 5, eight harness racing drivers from across the country will battle it out at Hippodrome 3R in Trois-Rivieres, Que. for the title of National Driving Champion.
The winner of the eight-race competition will get to represent Canada at the World Driving Championship in New Zealand in 2025.
The competition is run by Standardbred Canada and features two representatives from the four regions in the country. It is the first time that the Hippodrome 3R has ever hosted the national competition.
Once the morning line was completed following a drivers draft and post position draw for the eight races, Hippodrome 3R used the point system for the competition to calculate the following possible order of finish based on the morning line (which is just an estimated indicator of betting odds for the racing fans). The results of those calculations are listed below.
- Stephane Brosseau (Quebec/Eastern Ontario Region) - 65***
- Robert Shepherd (Quebec/Eastern Ontario Region) - 54*
- Tyler Borth (Ontario Region) - 52
- Mike Hennessy (Western Region) - 49*
- David Dowling (Atlantic Region) - 45*
- James MacDonald (Ontario Region) - 44*
- Phil Giesbrecht (Western Region) - 41*
- Redmond Doucet (Atlantic Region) - 28
*Indicates driving a morning line favourite.
3R’s Stephane Brosseau (pictured above) is fortunate to have three race favourites to drive. He has been on fire as of late at 3R, scoring four winners this past Sunday. He says he is ready for the competition.
"Currently, I'm in a good place lately,” said Brosseau. “I think the win I got at Rideau in [an Ontario Sires Stakes] Gold division with a Dr. Moore filly really gave me a boost, so to speak. I'm more confident, the victories are there and not a single day goes by without me thinking about the national tournament. I am looking forward to it and I am in excellent spirits. If I also feel the support of the public, who knows what could happen.”
Second in the morning line calculations is the other local representative, Robert Shepherd, who has a drive on one race favourite, but his other drives are also competitive.
“I didn’t do too bad with the draw for Friday,” said Shepherd. “When I looked at the draw, I saw that I did not do that bad. It came out pretty good. It’s gonna be competitive, they are all good drivers. It seems that when you drive against top drivers, it steps up your game. You have to be sharp because these guys will take any advantage they can get.”
Shepherd said he has never been to New Zealand and would love to win the championship.
“I was actually teasing my daughter,” Shepherd laughed, “I told her if I win, we will get to go to New Zealand and see some kangaroos.”
As for Ontario's Tyler Borth, who came in third place based on the rankings from the morning line odds, he said, “My French isn’t good at all. It stops at 'Bonjour, je m’appelle Tyler' (Hello, my name is Tyler),” Borth laughed. “I am pretty happy with the draw. Looks like I have some decent ones early so I hope to get off to a good start.”
In the Ontario Regional Driving Championship at The Raceway at Western Fair District in London, Ont., Borth was very pleased to have won and best fellow finalist James MacDonald.
“It was a thrill to win the Regionals at my home track of Western Fair," added Borth. “And it’s always nice to come out ahead of 'King James' as you know, you must be doing something right.”
All of the drivers will participate in a meet and greet with racing fans at the track on Friday starting at 2 p.m. There will be an official presentation of the eight drivers in the competition at 3 p.m. First race post time is 4 p.m. For free race programs, visit hippodrome3r.ca.
To view Friday’s complete harness racing entries, click the following links:
Hippodrome 3R -- Friday Entries // Program Pages (courtesy of TrackIT)
(With files from Quebec Jockey Club)