Just a few weeks ago, Justine Ray was all the talk in the Future Stars Series for two-year-old pacing fillies at Hippodrome 3R with three straight win to start off her career. Then along came Jean-Francios Maguire’s newly acquired filly, Silver Majesty, who put an end to Justine Ray’s winning ways.
“I just have Silver Majesty for three weeks now,” Maguire said. “She is a nice small filly with a lot of heart.”
A private sale purchase, Silver Majesty has won her first two starts for Maguire, a 2:00.2 record in the series and then a 2:01.2 triumph in a Quebec-Bred overnight race. In both races, the daughter of All Bets Off beat previously unbeaten Justine Ray.
What was the key for the big turnaround for the filly who had been racing in Ontario?
“She was having some issues with her mouth,” Maguire explained. “And she is getting better every week. For this year it will be 2-3 more races and then we will turn out to grow, so she can heal and finish filling out.”
On Sunday (Aug. 25), 3R is hosting the third and final preliminary round of the Future Stars Series for two-year-old pacers and trotters. There are a total of five divisions on Sunday’s 13-race program.
Silver Majesty will be driven again by Denis St. Pierre, who drove her in her first two wins. She starts from post four in the fifth race — the second $7,500 division for pacing fillies, and once again faces rival Justine Ray (post five) for driver Pascal Berube.
The first division for the fillies is the third race where Myvaliam (Sportswriter) heads the field from post four for driver William Roy. In her last start she was second to Silver Majesty.
Maguire has two more two-year-olds also racing Sunday and they are both in the ninth race, the $10,000 Future Stars division for two-year-old trotting colts. His two are Silver Porsche (post one) with driver Guy Gagnon and Big Bank (post six), who Maguire himself will drive.
“Silver Porsche is the half-brother of Jumpshot,” Maguire said. “He was the horse I broke and won a Gold division at Georgian Downs six or seven years ago. This one is really fast, but I have to mind his manners on the track."
The other contender is Big Bank, who had some problems staying on stride until Maguire started driving him.
“I drive Big Bank because I qualified him after three bad performances and I decided to stick with him for a more couple races, just to follow his evolution. He'll be ready soon for a cash driver.”
The race favourite is Im Just A Gigolo from post four. The son of Lookslikeachpndale already has two wins in the series, both on the front end for owner, trainer, driver and breeder, Jerome Lombart.
Two-year-old pacing colts battle for $10,000 in the seventh race with all eyes on The Magic Moment. The son of Control The Moment was a winner in the series at 3R with a 2:02.2 triumph. Then last week he competed at Woodbine Mohawk Park and was second by just half a length in 1:53.3. He takes on HP Bellissino (post three), a return winner in the series for driver Robert Shepherd.
The 11th race is the $10,000 series division for two-year-old trotting fillies where Chic Choc Rose puts her three-race unbeaten streak on the line from post seven for driver Marie-Claude Auger. She bred, trains and co-owns the Royalty For Life filly with Catheline Pelletier and Arianne Girard.
Also, on the card in the sixth race trot, undefeated Kinnder Dangerzone is going for his fifth straight win for owner-breeder-trainer Denitza Petrova and driver Marie-Claude Auger.
First race post time Sunday is 12:00 noon. For a look at the entries, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Hippodrome 3R.
(Quebec Jockey Club)