Two-year-old trotter Wildwild Men rewrote a 22-year-old harness racing track record at the Hippodrome 3R on Wednesday in capturing the first of two elimination divisions of the $200,000 Quebec-Bred Series.
Driven by Robert Shepherd, Wildwild Men traded control of the early lead with Panamas Boy (Stephane Brosseau) and they sped to a quick opening quarter-mile in :28.2. Once settled on the lead and in control, Shepherd and Wildwild Men backed down the pace as they led the field past the half-mile marker in 1:00.
Then in the backstretch, Sass and driver Clarke Steacy came first-over to try and mount a challenge, but Wildwild Men would have nothing to do with that and he kicked into another gear after the three-quarters in 1:31.2.
By the top of the stretch, Wildwild Men was leading by four and one-half lengths and then poured it on with a :29.1 last quarter-mile to win in a romp by six and one-half open lengths in 2:00.3.
The prior track record for two-year-old male trotters was 2:01.3 set by Jobie Tempest (Claude St-Jacques) in 1993.
Trained by Isabelle Darveau and owned by Catheline Pelletier with breeder Chantal Gravel, Wildwild Men earned his third straight win. The gelded son of Muscle Mass now has four wins in seven starts this year.
Wildwild Men paid just $2.30 to win. Holiday Party (Pascal Berube) finished second at odds of 129-1 and Sass was third.
In the fourth race, second division, KFB Amigo Cool was able to stay on stride and wire the field for driver Guy Gagnon were, scoring an upset over his favoured stablemate, 1-5 shot Tuscans Memory (Pascal Berube).
KFB Amigo Cool went right out to the early lead, stuffing a determined SOS Chico (Jocelyn Gendron) into the pocket seat to the opening quarter-mile in :29. KFB Amigo Cool then led to the half-mile in 1:01.2 when Berube came first-over with Tuscans Memory.
KFB Amigo Cool would not give ground to Tuscans Memory past the three-quarters in 1:32.3 and around the final turn as they battled head-to-head for the lead. Tuscans Memory then went wide as they started down the stretch and could not catch KFB Amigo Cool, who won by one and one-quarter lengths in 2:03. Defi Normand (Pierre Bovay) was third.
Sent off at odds of 6-1, KFB Amigo Cool paid $14.00 to win. The ridgling son of Amigo Hall earned his first career win in his fourth start for trainer Dany Fontaine for owner/breeder Investissement K F B.
This was the third and final preliminary round of the series. The top eight point-earners from the filly and colt trotting divisions will return on Sunday, September 6 for their respective $65,000 finals.
On Sunday, the two-year-old pacing colts and fillies compete in their third round of the series.
To view Wednesday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Wednesday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(With files from QJC)