The three-year-old pacing colt Retour Au Jeu notched his third-straight victory with a lifetime mark of 1:54.2 in winning the $10,000 colt division of the Breeders Trophy Series at the Hippodrome 3R Sunday (Sept. 6).
This was the final preliminary leg of the series, which culminates on Sunday, Sept. 27 with the top-eight point earners from both the colt and filly divisions competing in their respective $65,000 finals.
The seventh race co-feature saw Whitecookie leave strongly from post 5 and cut the mile to the first quarter in :27.2 with Shanghaigold sitting the pocket trip. By the half mile marker in :56.2, Brutus Bayama came first over with Retour Au Jeu second over. Driver Jonathan Lachance moved Retour Au Jeu three wide at the three-quarters in 1:25 and collared race leader Whitecookie into the final turn. However Whitecookie attempted to battle back at the inside through the stretch, but gave chase to Retour Au Jeu as he finished one-and-three-quarter lengths better in a 1:54.2 mile. Brutus Bayama finished third.
Sired by Hes Watching, Retour Au Jeu posted his fifth win in nine starts for trainer Maxime Velaye and owner-breeder Guy Corbeil of Mirabel. He paid $7.70 to win.
Acaena De Chakrika continued her dominance of the Breeders Trophy Series for the fillies as she won the first division with ease for driver Stephane Brosseau despite some tough attempts from her competitors.
SOS Cupcake with driver Samuel Fillion shot to the early lead and then parked out Acaena De Chakrika past the opening quarter in :27.3, and did not let them pass until heading to the half mile.
Once on the lead, Acaena De Chakrikad breezed by the half in :57.1, but once in the backstretch she was then challenged by a determined Kinnder Lolita, who inched in front of the 1-9 race favourite at three-quarters in 1:28.2. But Brosseau pulled the ear plugs on Acaena De Chakrikad and parked Kinnder Lolita around the final turn, then pulling away from the field in the stretch to win by four lengths in 1:59.2. YS Big Girl closed with a ton of speed to be second with Kinnder Lolita third.
It was the third-straight win for Acaena De Chakrika. The Sunshine Beach filly is trained by Dany Fontaine for owner-breeder Diane Lepine of Quebec City. She paid just $2.10 to win.
The fastest of the two filly divisions came in the fifth race where Streakazana bested race-favourite Zar E IP.
Zar E IP and driver Pascal Berube shot to the early lead with Perfect Romi in the pocket seat to the opening quarter mile in :27.4. Lotus Sena came first-over before the half mile in :58 with Streakazana second over. Then in the backstretch, driver Stephane Brosseau moved three wide with Streakazana at the three-quarters in 1:26.4 and cleared to race first over on the final turn.
In the stretch Streakazana collared Zar E IP and widened to a one-and-one-quarter lengths in 1:57.3. Zar E IP was second with Perfect Romi third.
It was the second-straight win and fourth of the year for Streakazana, who is sired by Western Paradise and trained by Francis Richard for the MCR Streakazana Group of Charlottetown, PEI. He paid $5.50 to win.
In addition to winning both filly divisions, Stephane Brosseau led all drivers with three winners. Trainer Francis Richard had two winners.
At the Quebec Regional Fair Circuit races held at Gaudreault’s (4G) farm at St-Joseph-de-Lapage Saturday, the all-age track record for trotters was re-written by Mr Logan Mirox, the only trotter in the race, with a 2:02.1 for owner-trainer-driver Michel Audet. The previous record was 2:03.1 set by Abundasass in 2018.
Live racing resumes at H3R on Friday (Sept. 11) with an earlier post time of 1:00 p.m. (EDT). The third leg of the Future Stars Series for trotting three-year-olds headlines that program.
(with files from Quebec Jockey Club)
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Hippodrome 3R.