The Quebec Jockey Club and Standardbred Canada celebrated National Caretaker Appreciation Day at Hippodrome 3R during the Sunday, Sept. 4 afternoon program that featured a pair of Preferred events.
Every caretaker with a horse entered was treated to lunch in the paddock kitchen, their names were announced in the post parade and a special presentation was made in every race to the caretaker of the winning horse.
The caretakers are the unsung heroes of the industry, working day-in, day-out, caring for their horses.
Perhaps the most exciting finish of the season took place in the sixth race, $7,000 Preferred 2 Pace as it took the photo finish camera to declare the winner by a nose.
Snap Test (Stephane Brosseau) was first on the front early with race favourite Goldinthebadlands (Pascal Berube) wanting the lead. The bettors' choice was parked out to the opening quarter-mile in :27.4 before clearing to command.
Heading to the half-mile, Menlo Park and driver Jessica Turenne went first-over with Spectrum Seelster (Francis Picard) second-over. Goldinthebadlands led past the half-mile in an easy :58.1.
The action picked up in the backstretch with Menlo Park chasing after Goldinthebadlands as Spectrum Seelster started to fade and that gave Siddhartha and driver Samuel Fillion room to slide right into the second-over spot at the three-quarters in 1:26.3.
With the momentum that Siddhartha had, Fillion took him three-wide on the final turn and, by the top of the stretch, all three horses were just heads apart and that is how they raced down the stretch. In the final strides to the wire, Siddhartha won by a nose over Menlo Park with Goldinthebadlands third by a head. The time for the race was 1:55.2.
The win was the fourth of the year from 16 starts for Siddhartha, a six-year-old gelding by So Surreal. He is owned and trained by Louis-Philippe Turcotte of Trois-Rivieres, Que. He paid $8.80 to win.
In the ninth race, $6,000 Preferred 3 Pace, Kiss Me Bad, the lone mare against male rivals, and driver Steven Gagnon went first-over and flew by race favourite and pacesetter BS Tyrrific and Pascal Berube in the backstretch then pull away from the field to win by two lengths in 1:56.3. BS Tyrrific was second with Hooter Shooter (Stephane Brosseau) third.
The win was the second this year from nine starts for Kiss Me Bad, a six-year-old mare by Badlands Hanover trained and owned by Gagnon. She paid $7.20 to win.
Little Diamond (William Roy) saw his four-race winning streak come to an end in a $5,000 two-year-old pace. He finished fourth as filly YS Poisson Darvil (Stephane Gendron) won the race in a lifetime-best 1:58.4 for trainer Yannick Martel and owner/breeder Yves Sarrazin.
Track Notes: Both Pascal Berube and Francis Picard scored driving doubles Sunday. Live harness racing will resume at 3R next Sunday, Sept. 11. The Super Sunday program, with $500,000 in total purses, will feature the Quebec Bred Championships -- four $65,000 races for the three-year-olds and four $55,000 races for the two-year-olds. It is the richest horse racing card in all of Quebec in 2022.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results - Hippodrome 3R.
(With files from Quebec Jockey Club)