The day started out with the trainers needing to add mud fenders and the drivers rain gear, but despite racing over a 'good,' rain-soaked track, the show continued at Hippodrome 3R on Sunday, Sept. 10 with the $500,000 Quebec-bred championships for two and three-year-old trotters and pacers.
There was a two second allowance by the judges. The track crew did an excellent job as the racing surface was in good shape with numerous horses taking lifetime marks. The rain ended before the fourth race went off and clear skies prevailed the rest of the afternoon before a huge crowd of racing fans.
Here is how each of the eight divisions fared on the 12-race afternoon card:
$65,000 Three-Year-Old Filly Trot
Sant Ambroggio did all the work and race favourite Dont Treat Me Bad and driver Jocelyn Gendron got all the glory.
Sant Ambroggio (Robert Shepherd) cut the fractions with Dont Treat Me Bad sitting the two-hole trip through panels of :28.4, :59.2 and 1:29.3 before Gendron moved Dont Treat Me Bad to the outside to challenge Sant Ambroggio down the stretch. The two battled to the wire with Dont Treat Me Bad getting up in the final strides to win by a neck in 2:00. Kenogami Courage (Stephane Brosseau) was third.
The time of the mile was a lifetime mark and the win was the fourth of the season from nine starts for Dont Treat Me Bad. The Resolve-Miss Bville J filly was bred and is owned and trained by Herve Kirouac of Sherbrooke, Que.
Dont Treat Me Bad paid $3.70 to win.
$65,000 Three-Year-Old Filly Pace
Ladycorona became the only horse to make a clean sweep of the series, winning all three legs and the final for driver Pascal Berube and trainer Yves Tessier.
Leaving from post five, Berube sent the 1-5 favourite, Ladycorona, down the road from the start with Godiva Ice Cream (Guy Gagnon) sitting the pocket trip. Ladycorona cut fractions of :28 and :58.4 when last year’s champion filly Pocahontas Du Lac (Louis-Philippe Roy) went first-over but was unable to gain on the race leader in the backstretch. Ladycorona passed the three-quarters in 1:28.2 and then pulled away from the field to win with ease by 3-1/4 lengths in 1:57.4. Pocahontas Du Lac was second with Godiva Ice Cream third.
Ladycorona earned her eighth win of the season from 14 starts. The homebred daughter of Bettors Delight out of Whycantiforgetyou is owned by Sotirios Anastasopoulos of Sainte-Therese, Que.
She paid $2.50 to win.
$65,000 Three-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Pace
Louis-Philippe Roy said on Friday that he hoped he would be able to touch the championship trophy on Sunday and he finally was able to in the last stakes race of the afternoon.
The race favourite, Attitude (Daniel Dube), was first on the lead with Maximus BG (Guy Gagnon) in the two-hole to the quarter in :27.2 and the half-mile in :56.4. Bets Beach (Pascal Berube) went first-over with Little Diamond (Jocelyn Gendron) second-over entering the backstretch.
Kansas Panic (Robert Shepherd) then went at the three-quarters in 1:26.2 and he cleared to be first-over against Attitude on the final turn. But Kingston Panic and Roy snuck up along the pylons and then went three-wide on the final turn. They were able to collar Attitude and then hold off stablemate Kansas Panic to win by 1-1/4 lengths in a career-best 1:55.3. Attitude was third.
It was an emotional victory as the owner and breeder of both Kingston Panic and Kansas Panic was Brian Paquet, who passed away just three weeks ago. Paquet was not only a prominent owner and breeder, but an industry leader in Quebec when it came to horse racing.
For Kingston Panic, the victory was his second in seven seasonal starts. The Sportswriter-R We There Yet gelding is trained by David Pilon.
He paid $7.80 to win.
$65,000 Three-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Trot
The biggest upset of the afternoon was courtesy of 35-1 longshot Free Wheels and driver Jocelyn Gendron, who cut the mile and would not let anyone pass them.
They set fractions of :29 and :59.4 before the race favourite, Kinnder Motown (Robert Shepherd), went first-over to challenge. Those two battled head-to-head to the three-quarters in 1:29.1. They still went at it around the final turn and just as they straightened out for the stretch drive, Kinnder Motown broke stride and Free Wheels coasted to the wire to win by three lengths in a new lifetime mark of 1:59.3. Timonier (Daniel Dube) was second with BBC Sportsboy (Marc Belanger) third.
Free Wheels picked up his third win of the year from 10 outings. The homebred Wheeling N Dealin-Alarming Quick gelding is trained and owned by Herve Kirouac.
A $2 win ticket on Free Wheels returned $73.80.
$55,000 Two-Year-Old Filly Trot
Kenogami Queen (Stephane Brosseau) was the overwhelming 1-5 favourite in her championship race but just as she was clearing to the lead at the first quarter, she went off-stride and was out of the race.
That allowed JD Beauty (Robert Shepherd) to take back control of the lead going to the backstretch, but then she went off stride too. That left 5-1 shot Sensi Amnesia on the lead and she took off for trainer/driver Marie-Claude Auger, pulling away from the field to win in a romp by 8-1/4 lengths in 2:05.3. MVPs Daughter (Jerome Lombart) was second with Cleveland U Bet (Louis-Philippe Roy) third.
Sensi Amnesia broke her maiden in her fifth start. Auger bred the Muscle Mass-Torches Angel filly and shares ownership with Catheline Pelletier of Mirabel, Que.
Sensi Amnesia paid $12.10 to win.
$55,000 Two-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Trot
Before the start of the race, the 2-5 favourite, Wild Dream Men (Guy Gagnon), went off-stride creating a wide-open race from the outset. Vol De Banque (Claude Beausoleil) was first on the lead then M C Eddy and driver Pascal Berube took control past the first quarter in :31.2.
Past the 1:02.2 half-mile marker, Gagnon got Wild Dream Men back into the race and they went first-over against M C Eddy. Those two battled it out to the three-quarters in 1:33.3 and around the final turn. In a classic stretch drive, M C Eddy was able to hold off Wild Dream Men to win by a quarter-length in 2:04.2. Drinklikehenry (William Roy) was third.
M C Eddy is now two-for-four to start his career. The Lookslikeachpndale-Meganou gelding is trained by Daniel Martin, who co-owns with Dominique Michel of St-Barnabe, Que., and Jean Carignan of Becancour, Que. He was bred by Martin and Jean Picard.
M C Eddy paid $8.90 to win as the second choice.
$55,000 Two-Year-Old Filly Pace
The race began with Breedingbankrupsy (Pascal Berube), The Heart Valley (Francis Picard) and D Gs Lorijeanne (Jonathan Lachance) all leaving for the lead and they were three-across at the first quarter in :28.3 before anyone would back off.
Breedingbankrupsy took the lead with The Heart Valley in the pocket and D Gs Lorijeanne left hung out first-over. The 1-5 race favourite, Ronda Du Lac (Louis-Philippe Roy), then moved second-over past the half-mile in :59.1. In the backstretch, Roy moved Ronda Du Lac three-wide and looped past Breedingbankrupsy, but at the same time, The Heart Valley vacated the pocket trip and parked out Ronda Du Lac three-wide at the three-quarters in 1:31.1, with 14-1 shot Shes Rock and Robert Shepherd second-over and in the hunt.
As they started down the stretch, The Heart Valley locked wheels with Ronda Du Lac, slowing them both down as Shes Rock sped by to win in 2:02.1 by three lengths. The Heart Valley was second but placed seventh for interference with Ronda Du Lac third-placed-second and Breedingbankrupsy fourth-placed-third.
Shes Rock earned her first career win from six starts for trainer Isabelle Darveau and owner Bruce Tremblay of Shipsaw, Que. The filly by Hes Watching out of Southern Rock was bred by Lise Carbonneau.
Shes Rock paid $30.80 to win
$55,000 Two-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Pace
Even-money favourite Boomboom Tonight and driver Guy Gagnon were parked out to the opening quarter in :28.2 by Love That Miramont (Jean Bernard Renaud). Then Olaf Du Lac (Louis-Philippe Roy) went first-over at the half in :59.1, but was unable to collar Boomboom Tonight at the three-quarters in 1:28.4.
Boomboom Tonight and Gagnon then pulled away from the field and went on to win with ease by three lengths in a career-best 1:58. Olaf Du Lac was second with Ambitious Mind (Francis Picard) third.
Boomboom Tonight earned his third straight win and fourth victory in six lifetime starts. The Sportswriter-Rapid Tonight gelding is trained Marc Belanger for owner/breeder Elisabeth Pothier of St-Christophe-D’Arthabask, Que.
He paid $4 to win.
Invitationals
A set of $10,000 Invitationals were won by the Kevin Maguire-trained trotter Royalty Beer (Louis-Philippe Roy) in 1:58.1, pacing gelding The Light Speed in 1:54.3 for trainer/driver Guy Gagnon and the Jean-Francois Reid stable's pacing mare Celia Bayama (Stephane Brosseau) in 1:55.
Three-year-old pacing filly Godiva Shadow Girl (Guy Gagnon) took a new mark of 1:57 for trainer Lyne Asselin in a $6,500 Open for three-year-old Quebec-bred pacers on the championship undercard.
Guy Gagnon led all drivers with a triple on the afternoon. Louis-Philippe Roy, Pascal Berube and Jocelyn Gendron all had driving doubles. Herve Kirouac had a training double.
Live harness racing resumes next Friday, Sept. 15 at 4 p.m. This will be the final Friday twilight card of the 2023 race season at 3R.
To view Sunday's complete harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(With files from Quebec Jockey Club)
Photos clockwise from top left: Ladycorona winning with Pascal Berube; Marie-Claude Auger gets a hug from Catheline Pelletier after winning with Sensi Amnesia; Dont Treat Me Bad and Jocelyn Gendron beat Sant Ambroggio to the finish line; Herve Kirouac lifts Jocelyn Gendron in celebration after winning with Free Wheels.