Despite COVID-19, harness racing trainer Denitza Petrova from Melbourne is enjoying one of her best seasons ever as her Kinnder Dangerzone won Friday (Sept. 4) at the Hippodrome 3R in stakes competition.
Petrova and her parents left Bulgaria in 1989 and moved to Belgium for three years, where Denitza was able to take a few riding lessons. Her love for horses and farm life never left her dreams. Then the family moved to Quebec, Canada in 1992 and it was not until age 22 that Petrova learned about harness racing and became “hooked” on the sport.
The big victory of the day came in the very first race Friday, the $10,000 second leg of the Future Stars Series for two-year-old trotting colts with Kinnder Dangerzone starting from post 4.
Hall Win and trainer-driver Kevin Maguire left for the early lead with Kinnder Dangerous and driver Pierre Luc Roy sitting in second until the opening quarter in :30.2. Roy then sent Kinnder Dangerzone to the front and the son of Northern Escort led the rest of the one-mile race, winning with ease by two lengths in 2:03—a lifetime best. Hall Win was second with Incredible Hall third.
Unbeaten in two starts this year, Kinnder Dangerzone returned $3.50 to win.
Petrova is not just the trainer of her horses, she also owns them and has bred all of the horses she trains. She runs the entire operation from her farm in Melbourne, which features a half-mile training track.
For the limited race season in 2020, Petrova’s Stable has sent out 24 starts and sports seven wins, four seconds and one third-place finish for a UTR (or "battle average") of .425.
Petrova also names all her horses Kinnder because of her love of the Kinder chocolate candy with the toy inside. She has a massive collection of the toy surprises she has received over the years.
The second division of the Future Stars Series for the fillies saw the top filly, Mag N Lady, win again for trainer-driver Jean Francois Maguire. The daughter of Royalty For Life took the early lead away from X O X O by the first quarter in :30.4. Then the other three contenders in the field all went off-stride, leaving Mags N Lady alone to a 2:02 win by as much as 50 lengths. X O X O was second with Justice Balance third.
Mag N Lady, co-owned by Maguire with Julie Malenfant and Richard Legris, collected her second-consecutive win.
Pierre Luc Roy led all horse people Friday with a driving triple. Sunday (Sept. 6) features a 10-race program with three divisions of the Breeders Trophy Series for pacing three-year-olds, featuring return winners Acaena De Chakrika, Streakazana and Godiva Lovely Lady along with Retour Au Jeu, Mickeymaksomespeed and HP I Got Toplay for the colts. First-race post time on Sunday is 1:00 p.m. (EDT).
Purse Raise Announced
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Quebec Jockey Club, Claude Lévesque, was very happy today to announce that starting next weekend, for the Sept. 11 harness racing program, the purses at H3R will be increased between 20% and 30%, for all overnight races.
“The members of the Quebec Jockey Club in meeting this morning, made this decision,” said Mr. Lévesque, following the good results obtained since the return to racing.
“The only downside to this announcement is that if Public Health decided to close the bars in Quebec, and therefore our OTB betting houses, we would return to the current purse structure,” Mr. Lévesque also said. “This increases does not apply to the Coupe de l'Avenir (Future Stars Series) and the Breeders Trophy events, including the finals.
“This is great news,” Mr. Lévesque also said, “which we know will delight our horse people.”
(Quebec Jockey Club)
To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
To view Friday's special card results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Hippodrome 3R (S).