Sunjet Ray may or may not end up being the race favourite in Sunday’s $28,000 Lucien Bombardier Pace for two-year-old fillies at Hippodrome 3R. She cannot read the toteboard either way, and that has not stopped her from having an excellent first season at the races.
The daughter of Sunshine Beach goes from post two in the fourth race feature Sunday (Oct. 2) at 3R. She will be driven by Stephane Gendron, who has driven the filly once, four starts back, to a game second place finish. She is trained and co-owned by four-time leading trainer at 3R, Francis Richard with Dr John Bradbury.
“We bought this filly privately,” explained Richard. “My friend John Bradbury called me up one day and said she was for sale, so we worked out a deal.”
And what a deal that has turned out to be. Sunjet Ray has but five starts this year, but three of them wins with one second and one third-place finish.
Her most important victory came two starts back when she was able to lead from start to finish in capturing the $50,000 Future Stars Series championship final at 3R in a lifetime best 2:00.2 clocking. She now sports $36,457 in earnings, making her the class of the field.
When did Richard’s know the filly would become very good during her early training?
“I would say early in the spring,” Richard explained. “We could see she had something special in her, unfortunately I think with the Grassroots semi-finals the same weekend of the Bombardier Pace didn’t help draw many for this race. It should still be a good race anyway.”
Louis-Philippe Roy had been her regular driver as of late, but could not make it back to 3R for this race.
“LPR has been very busy the last couple weeks with driving, sales and stuff,” Richard said. “So, he could not make it to drive her again, but Stephane Gendron knows her well. He went with her this summer and will be fine on Sunday.”
What was it like for Richard’s to win the rich final with Sunjet Ray?
“It felt so great to win that final,” Richard said. “I own her with some great friends of mine and for most of them it was their first time winning a major Quebec-bred stake. Seeing them hoisting the big trophy in the winner’s circle and all their excitement made me so happy. That’s why we have horses, for moments like that.”
In her last start, Sunjet Ray put in a game performance at Woodbine Mohawk Park, finishing third in a division of the Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots, timed in 1:54.2.
Her main rival in the race is the race favourite Shezis A Beauty from post five. The invader from Ontario scored a lifetime best 1:56 clocking two starts back in winning a division of the Prospect Series at Grand River Raceway.
The daughter of Sportswriter has two wins, both on the front end. Trained by Gerard Demers, Samuel Fillion will drive Shezis A Beauty for the first time.
Two other fillies that will be competitive in the field are HP Mary Sunshine and D Gs Shallow who have just achieved their best times, miles around 2:00 – 2:01. They will have to do better on Sunday.
One of the "pioneers" of horse racing in Canada, but especially Quebec, Lucien Bombardier devoted his entire life to the industry. Born and raised near Bedford, Bombardier retired in 1992 after 16 years on the board of directors of the Canadian Standardbred Horse Society.
First race post time Sunday is 12:10 p.m. For more information and a free race program, visit hippodrome3R.ca. To view Sunday's entries, click the following link: Sunday Entries - Hippodrome 3R.
(Quebec Jockey Club)