A five-win day for Hippodrome 3R's leading driver Pascal Berube included a victory in the second preliminary leg of the Trophée des Éleveurs for three-year-old Quebec-bred pacers on Sunday, Aug. 2.
Berube won one of the four $7,500 stakes divisions on the afternoon card with Taylor Desbi upsetting defending filly champion Cattlekiss in a career-best 1:58.1 for trainer Jacques Dupont.
Berube sent Taylor Desbi to the front from the outside post five in the first filly division before the advancing 1-9 favourite Cattlekiss (Marie-Claude Auger) took over after being parked the :28.2 quarter. After rated middle splits of :58.2 and 1:29, the race was on. Taylor Desbi took her shot rounding the final turn and defeated Cattlekiss by one length in the drive to the wire, with Chezmatante Du Lac (Pierre-Luc Roy) a hard-charging third.
Taylor Desbi, who finished third in the opening leg of the series on July 19, paid $11.80 to win as the 9-2 second choice.
A homebred for owner Sylvain Descheneaux of Sorel-Tracy, Que., the Cattlewash-Sand Gesture filly earned her second win to go along with 10 other top three finishes in 19 starts during her debut racing season.
Esmeralda De Lac turned back all challengers to win the other filly division in a matching 1:58.1 mile with Pierre-Luc Roy driving for trainer Marc-Andre Simoneau.
Esmeralda De Luc swept from third to first as the field of six raced past the :28.4 opening quarter then had to contend with Kenogami Delight (Stephane Brosseau) at the half in :58.1 and 3-5 favoured first-leg winner Victoria Ray (Berube), who joined the front-end battle three-wide at three-quarters in 1:28.4. However, Esmeralda De Luc fought off her rivals to win by 1-1/2 lengths. Kenogami Delight settled for second while Snud Phoenix (Auger) closed from the back to edge out the bettors' choice for third.
Following up a runner-up effort in round one of the series, Esmeralda De Luc was let go at 5-2 as part of the third-choice wagering entry and paid $7.80 to win.
After starting her sophomore season racing in Ontario before arriving in Quebec in July, she now has three wins from 18 starts this year. The daughter of Cattlewash and Sheissuchadream is owned by Louis-Philippe Roy Racing of Campbellville, Ont., Jean Allaire of Montreal, Que., Michel Letarte of Boucherville, Que., and Groupe Esmeralda Du Lac of Campbellville, Ont.
The $7,500 male divisions featured the undefeated Golddiamond and Night Off, both repeat winners in the series.
Trained and driven by Stephane Brosseau, Golddiamond progressed to the lead through a :27.2 opening panel then stole a second-quarter breather to the half in :57.4. He easily rebuffed a mid-mile challenge from Panic Ray (Luc-Pierre Roy) while Wicked Buddy Buck (Berube) was forced wide around the fading cover in his pursuit of the front-striding favourite to three-quarters in 1:28. Briefly headed in the final turn, Golddiamond fought back in the stretch to win by one length in 1:56.3 with Bernard (William Roy) rallying off Wicked Buddy Buck's cover to take the runner-up honours ahead of that foe.
Golddiamond paid $3.70 as the 4-5 favourite.
Unraced as a two-year-old, the chestnut son of Cattlewash out of Tymal Sugarbabydoll is now seven-for-seven in his debut season for owners Robert Bergeron and Chantal Trepanier of Laval, Que.
After a winning his opening leg division by a head, driver Francis Picard's homebred colt Night Off won again by a neck in a career-best 1:57 mile despite finishing with a broken headpole. The 1-5 favourite took a pocket tuck early and tracked eventual third-place finisher Kinnder Colosse (Sylvain Fontaine) through fractions of :27.3 and :56.4 before making his winning move heading to three-quarters in 1:26.3. Hunts Speed (Maxime Dinelle) picked up the chase turning for home but Night Off held off that rival in a close call.
Night Off paid just $2.50 to win as the overwhelming bettors' choice.
Trained by Dominique Picard, the All Bets Off-Rainbow Place colt has now won four of his seven sophomore starts.
Among Berube's other winners, he drove Bets Beach in this week's $7,000 Preferred Handicap Pace for trainer Yves Tessier, pouncing from the pocket to take command from the longshot leader with a quarter-mile to go and drawing off by 4-1/4 lengths in a season's best 1:55.2. Enavant (Antoine Desrochers), the 3-5 favourite, rallied three-wide down the backstretch the final time to win the race for place despite a a trailing tier start and overland trip, while the winner's stablemate, Perpetual Rock (Steeven Genois), finished third.
Rebounding from an uncharacteristic eight-place finish last time out on July 26, Bets Beach returned to the winner's circle after starting his six-year-old season with four straight wins in the spring followed by four runner-up finishes. He paid $5.50 to win as part of the 8-5 entry.
Tessier shares ownership of the All Bets Off-Blue Beach Girl gelding with Allaire and Gina Bragagnolo of Trois-Rivieres, Que.
Berube also swept the early Daily Double with veteran pacer Keystone Prestige ($3.60) for trainer Patrice Dumas and the Kevin Maguire-trained four-year-old pacing mare Coeuratout De Lac ($5.30), who gave a third co-owner credit to Allaire on Sunday. Berube also picked up the catch-drive on trainer Nancy Gouin's seven-year-old mare Tresbelle Bluechip ($7.50), who took a new lifetime mark of 1:57.
Berube's five-win day brought his meet-leading total to 48 wins while expanding his margin to 22 ahead of Picard in second.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Taylor Desbi and Pascal Berube winning on Aug. 1)