Maguire on a roll with new stable acquisition

Just a few weeks ago, Justine Ray was all the talk in the Future Stars Series for two-year-old pacing harness racing fillies at the Hippodrome 3R (H3R) in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec with three straight win to start off her career, then along came Jean-Francios Maguire’s newly acquired filly, Silver Majesty, who put an end to Justine Ray’s winning ways.

“I just have Silver Majesty for three weeks now,” Maguire said. “She is a nice small filly with a lot of heart.”

A private sale purchase, Silver Majesty (All Bets Off) has won her first two starts for Maguire, a 2:00.2 record in the series and then a 2:01.2 triumph in a Quebec-Bred overnight race. In both races, Silver Majesty beat previously unbeaten Justine Ray.

What was the key for the big turnaround for the filly who had been racing in Ontario?

“She was having some issues with her mouth,” Maguire explained. “And she is getting better every week. For this year it will be 2-3 more races and then we will turn out to grow, so she can heal and finish filling out.”

On Sunday (Aug. 25), H3R is hosting the third and final preliminary round of the Future Stars Series for two-year-old pacers and trotters. There are a total of five divisions on Sunday’s 13-race program.

Silver Majesty will be driven again by Denis St Pierre, who drove her in her first two wins. She starts from post four in the 5^th race $7,500 second division for pacing fillies and once again faces rival Justine Ray (post 5) for driver Pascal Berube.

The first division for the fillies is the 3^rd race where Myvaliam (Sportswriter) heads the field from post four for driver William Roy. In her last start she was second to Silver Majesty.

Maguire has two more two-year-olds also racing Sunday and they are both in the 9^th race $10,000 series division for two-year-old trotting colts. His two are Silver Porsche (post 1) with driver Guy Gagnon and Big Bank (post 6), who Maguire himself will drive.

“Silver Porsche (Resolve) is the half-brother of Jumpshot,” Maguire said. “He was the horse I broke and won a Gold division at Georgian Downs 6-7 years ago. This one is really fast, but I have to mind his manners on the track.

The other contender is Big Bank (The Bank), who had some problems staying on stride until Maguire started driving him.

“I drive Big Bank because I qualified him after three bad performances and I decided to stick with him for a couple more races, just to follow his evolution. He’ll be ready soon for a cash driver.”

The race favorite is Im Just A Gigolo (Lookslikeachpndale) from post four. He already has two wins in the series, both on the front end for owner, trainer, driver and breeder, Jerome Lombart.

Two-year-old pacing colts battle in the 7^th race $10,000 series with all eyes on The Magic Moment (Control The Moment). He was a winner in the series at H3R with a 2:02.2 triumph. Then last week he competed at Mohawk Park and was second by just half a length in 1:53.3. He takes on HP Bellissino (post 3), a return winner in the series for driver Robert Shepherd.

The 11^th race is the $10,000 series division for two-year-old trotting fillies where Chic Choc Rose (Royalty For Life) puts her three-race unbeaten streak on the line from post 7 for driver Marie-Claude Auger. She bred, trains and co-owns the filly with Catheline Pelletier and Arianne Girard.

Also, on the card in the 6^th race trot, undefeated Kinnder Dangerzone (Northern Escort) is going for his fifth straight win for owner-breeder-trainer Denitza Petrova and driver Marie-Claude Auger.

First race post time Sunday is 12:00 noon. For more information and free race programs, visit here.

by Steve Wolf, for the Quebec Jockey Club