Plante, Demers dominate in Elora

Harness racing driver Jean Rene Plante and trainer Gerard Demers made themselves frequent visitors to the Grand River Raceway winner’s circle on Wednesday as they teamed for three wins.

Plante and Demers began their respective evenings perfectly with a dominant victory from Norwegian Dad (1:59), a five-year-old Uncle Peter gelding, in race three. Demers has extracted two wins from the horse in six starts so far for Les Ecuries GLD Inc. of Dundas, which claimed him on Mar. 25.

The pair remained undefeated in their second start of the day as Neon Lights (1:58.3) led at every station in the sixth. Demers is the long-time trainer of the seven-year-old gelding by Chapter Seven. La Ferme Tag Inc. of Papineauville and Les Ecuries GLD own.

Aidan James (2:02.1) went wire-to-wire in the seventh on debut to complete a triple for the Plante/Demers combo. Aurel Harvey Et Fils Inc. of Riviere-Malbaie purchased the freshman Sportswriter colt for $17,000 from the 2020 Ontario Select sale and entrusted Demers to train.

Plante completed a grand slam aboard his Smoke N Reactor N (1:56.2), whom he trains and owns, with a three-wide backstretch blast in the ninth race. Plante, a resident of Burlington, acquired the seven-year-old daughter of Auckland Reactor in March. The mare has since won four of her eight appearances.

Trix And Stones rallied after a rough-gaited start in the featured Preferred 2 & 3 Handicap Trot.

The stallion struggled to find his gait at the start and dropped behind by about 12 lengths going into the first turn. Driver Travis Cullen immediately looked to reduce the deficit, pulling the horse to the outside before hitting the quarter in :28. The stallion got cover going to the half in :57.2 and moved three-wide from fifth at the third station in 1:27.

Trix And Stones gained further and matched strides with the two inside leaders on the final turn, then rolled by both in the stretch to win by a length and a quarter in 1:58.2. Horse Trader (Jean Bernard Renaud) finished second over earlier leader Willyorwonthe (Colin Kelly), who took show.

TRIX AND STONES REPLAY

Patrick Shepherd trains Trix And Stones, an $8 winner, for Triple S Equine of Newton. The five-year-old son of Trixton has now won 12 of his 77 career outings and has brought in $289,538 in earnings.

Demers extended his lead atop the trainers’ standings with his successful evening. He has 10 wins from 23 in the year to date at the Elora, Ont. oval. Brett Macdonald took the lead among reinsmen as he scored once on the night to increase his total to 18 and break the tie with Colin Kelly.

Grand River Raceway hosts Ontario Sires Stakes Prospect Series action during its next card on Friday, Jul. 11. Racing will begin at 6:30 p.m. EDT.

For full race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink