The future stars of harness racing from the Quebec region will begin their careers Tuesday evening (July 19) at the Hippodrome 3R with the start of the Future Cup Series.
The series is for two-year-old trotting colts and fillies and features four weeks of preliminary-round competition. The top eight point earners from both the filly and colt divisions will return on Sunday, September 4 for their $65,000 finals.
The trotting colts will be on display first in Race 3. It will be the first time any of these youngsters have raced for a purse, and thus one needs to look at their breeding to see who could be an up-and-coming star in the future.
That honour could well go to the morning line favourite, Capteur De Reve, who will start from Post 5 for trainer Maxime Velaye. The son of Muscle Mass was bred and is owned by Ecruie Provoquante of Mirable, QC and will be driven by Guy Corbeil.
Capteur De Reve’s dam is Noblesse, who is a half-sister to none other than three-time Quebec-bred Series Champion, Maximuscle, who will be racing later during the program (in Race 8). Capteur De Reve has also finished a strong second in a qualifier last week at Rideau Carlton Raceway in 2:04.
With just three fillies entered, the filly division will be non-wagering and the race will be held right after fifth race on the program.
Making her debut to pari-mutuel racing will be the younger full sister to Maximuscle, Affirmee. She is also owned and bred by Ecruie Provoquante, trained by Velaye and will start from Post 3 for Corbeil. She has also been race-timed in 2:04.
So we have a brother and two sisters and their nephew, all racing on the same program at 3R Tuesday.
The Tuesday program will also feature two divisions of the third round of the Breeders Cup Series for three-year-old trotting fillies and colts.
The first division for trotting fillies (Race 4) will feature another full sister to Maximuscle, in Éclair Chocolat, from Post 6. She was third in the opening round of the series.
The early race favourite is Y A Jailhouse Rock and driver Stephane Gendron from Post 5. They will attempt to make it a clean sweep of the series, as they have won both opening round legs.
The daughter of Andover Hall – who is trained by Michel Allard and co-owned by Yves Sarrazin and Rene Allard – is on a roll, as she has won five of her last six starts.
Other contenders in the field include Y S Suzanne (Post 3) and Eau Naturelle (Post 1).
The colts will do battle in Race 6 where Holiday Party (Post 9) is the heavy favourite and is on a tear, with a four-race win streak on the line for trainer Dany Fontaine and driver Pascal Berube.
The son of Holiday Road has won five of nine starts for Ecurie Gaetan Bono, Inc. of Montreal, the fastest a lifetime mark of 1:57. Missing from the lineup is track record holder Wildwild Men, who had also won two legs of the series.
First-race post time is 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
To view the harness racing entries for Tuesday at 3R, click the following link: Tuesday Entries – Hippodrome 3R.
(QJC)