On Sunday, Sept. 10, the Quebec Jockey Club will be hosting the richest day of harness racing in all of Quebec with more than $500,000 in purses for Super Sunday at Hippodrome 3R.
Featured will be the finals of the Quebec Championships for two and three-year-old trotters and pacers. There are eight finals, four $65,000 finals for the three-year-olds and four $55,000 finals for the two-year-olds, plus three $10,000 Invitational races.
The 12-race program gets underway at 12:00 noon Sunday. And the busiest people on the day will be the drivers, trainers and caretakers of all the horses competing Sunday afternoon.
Amongst the drivers with the most mounts goes to three-time O’Brien award winning driver, Louis-Philippe Roy, who have 11 drives in the 12 races. Then it is the reigning four-time 3R leading reinsman, Pascal Berube with 10 drives.
Last year Roy stole the show on Super Sunday with five winners, including four in the finals, but this year he is not listed on any race favourites. He does have three of his own homebred foals in the finals.
Trois-Rivieres native Daniel Dube has returned home for Super Sunday and has six drives on the program. Then there is Stephane Brosseau and Robert Shepherd each with nine drives, Guy Gagnon with eight drives, Jocelyn Gendron and Marie-Claude Auger each with seven drives. This group will have a very busy day.
On the training side the leader is David Pilon, who will send out seven horses from his stable, three of whom are all in the 11th race final for three-year-old pacers. Then with six starters each are Sylvain Tremblay and Isabelle Darveau followed by Maxime Velaye (5), Jack Reid (4), Daniel Martin (4) and Guy Gagnon (4).
Horses to watch include Kenogami Queen (post three, race four) in the $55,000 final for two-year-old trotting fillies. She has a chance to sweep the entire series as she enters the final on a three-race winning streak for driver Stephane Brosseau and trainer-owner-breeder Jack Reid.
Another filly, sophomore pacer, Ladycorona (post five, race five) also could sweep her series with a victory Sunday for driver Pascal Berube and trainer Yves Tessier. She saw her five-race winning streak come to an end just last week in a tight finish.
Wild Dream Men (post four, race six) was undefeated in his first three starts for driver-trainer Guy Gagnon, but in the third preliminary round for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings, he suffered his first defeat by only a head.
Super Sunday will start with special festivities at 11:30 a.m. and the presentation of dignitaries for the big day including honourary speaker René Villemure, Member of Parliament for Trois-Rivières, as well as musicians, decorations, presentation blankets for the horses and lots of trophies for the winners. There is also a fancy hat competition and a live concert after the races.
To view the entries for Sunday's card of harness racing at 3R, click on one of the following links: Hippodrome 3R - Sunday Entries || Sunday Program Pages (courtesy TrackIT)
(Quebec Jockey Club)