On Friday, Aug. 30 at Hippodrome 3R, the trotters will be in the spotlight with two special Quebec-bred races. One for the older horses and the other for three-year-olds.
The older horses will be on the track first in the sixth race $8,500 trot and former Quebec-bred champion Royalty Beer will make his return after racing stateside and a brief layoff.
It has been nearly a year since the five-year-old gelding last raced at the Trois-Rivières half-mile oval. Owned and trained by Jean-Francois Maguire of Sainte-Marie, Que., the Ecuries Maguire homebred son of Royalty For Life was a provincial champion at ages two and three.
Maguire tried his trotter at Ontario's Woodbine Mohawk Park at age four and he took a lifetime record of 1:54 then it was off to the USA to the stable of trainer/driver Patrick Lachance, the son of U.S. Hall of Famer Michel Lachance. Racing mainly in the Invitational Trots at Yonkers Raceway, Royalty Beer hit the board in a dozen of his starts earning $134,961 this season.
At the end of May, Royalty Beer was sent back home to Quebec and now Maguire has brought his top trotter back to 3R to hopefully prepare to return to race in the USA.
Royalty Beer has post eight for driver Pascal Berube in the main event on Friday. He recently prepped with a start on the Quebec fair circuit and a qualifying race at 3R two weeks ago where he was a game second by a nose in a 2:01.4 mile.
“Royalty Beer is great right now,” said Maguire. “We turned him out at my cousin [Kevin Maguire]'s farm in Sainte-Marie and he has trained him back.
“He may need a couple of starts before he returns to the USA,” noted Maguire. “I hope he is ready to rock on Friday but post eight is tough.”
Tough it will be for the return of Royalty Beer as he faces a full field of eight rivals -- three of them coming off victories.
The race favourite is Kinnder Dangerzone in post seven for driver Marie-Claude Auger. This six-year-old son of Northern Escort returned in July from more than a year and half layoff and won his first four starts back for breeder, owner and trainer Denitza Petrova, with the fastest victory being a 1:56.4 lifetime mark at Rideau Carleton Raceway. But last week, just as he was making a three-wide move in the backstretch to take the lead, Kinnder Dangerzone made a break in stride and finished last.
Another Kinnder horse, bred by Petrova, is Kinnder Motown (post five), who enters the race off a 1:59.4 victory in the Preferred on Aug. 18. Thats Hooligan (post three) was a 27-1 upset winner last weekend with a 2:01.3 mile while La Bromontoise, the lone mare in the field, goes from the rail off a 2:01 triumph on Aug. 16 at 3R.
The eighth race is the Quebec-bred trot for three-year-olds, with a purse of $7,000. All seven of the starters are tuning up for their respective $65,000 finals of the Breeders Trophy Series on Super Sunday, Sept. 8.
Jean-Francois Maguire owns and trains the 5-2 race favourite, Paradise Moni, who will start from post four with driver Denis St. Pierre. Last week at Rideau Carleton, Pierre drove Paradise Moni to an impressive 1:55.2 lifetime mark. It was the second straight win for the International Moni colt and his fifth victory on the year from 10 starts. The week prior, the colt won in the Breeders Trophy Series with a 1:58.4 triumph.
Rival Captain PV, who will start from post five, had his five-race winning streak brought to an end by Paradise Moni in their last start. The Wheeling N Dealin gelding will be driven by Auger for trainer Serge Nadeau.
Trained by Marc-Andre Simoneau, Cleomax Duharas is on a winning streak for driver Loic Gueriel and will start from post two. The daughter of Muscle Mass is one of three fillies going against the colts, but this filly has won her last three starts and last week at Rideau Carleton took a lifetime mark of 1:58.4.
Other top contenders in the race include the entry of MVPs Daughter (post one) and Last Try (post six) for owner, breeder and trainer Jerome Lombart.
First race post time for the 10-race card on Friday is 4 p.m.
To view Friday's harness racing entries, click the following link: Friday Entries - Hippodrome 3R.
(With files from Quebec Jockey Club)