Can Histoire Enchantee keep on motoring?

Trois-Rivieres, QC – On Sunday (Oct. 23) at the Hippodrome 3R, the main event takes place in the 9^th race Preferred Pace, where Histoire Enchantee (Shanghai Phil), a winner in six of his last seven starts, takes on the best harness racing mares and horses at the track.

Ladies first. Sunday’s top pace also includes three mares taking on six male rivals. Those three mares got to draw for the inside posts, and they are Better Kissthe Men (post 1), Platine Alpha (post 2), a seven-time winner this year and Twin B Betty (post 3), who last week was second in this same class. The ladies have shown the ability to beat their male rivals.

But the class of the field over the last three months has been Histoire Enchantee from post four for trainer-driver Simon Delisle. Now age 8, the gelding has really come into form week after week.

His first ten starts this season saw no trips to the winner’s circle for Histoire Enchantee and then he found his groove for Delisle and has won six of his last seven starts and goes for his fourth straight win on Sunday.

Last week in this class, Histoire Enchantee did what he does best, going to the front and never looking back. He wired the field by one length over Twin B Betty and Siddhartha in 1:56.4.

Yet, despite his winning ways, Histoire Enchantee is not the morning line favorite. That honor belongs to the mare, Platine Alpha, who had been trying her luck at Woodbine Mohawk Park where she was unable to get a check but showed she can pace in a sub 1:53 clocking.

Another contender in the field is D Gs Devito (post 7). He returns to his home base after competing at Rideau Carleton when he won in 1:53 and in his last start he was a game second, timed in 1:51.3. He will have regular pilot Jonathan Lachance in the sulky.

A favorite at H3R is Mickeymaksomespeed (post 6) for driver Kiwon Waldron. Mickeymaksomespeed has won two of his last three starts, the fastest in 1:56 at H3R. Earlier this season he won in 1:54.4.

The field continues to be filled with local stars with Siddhartha going from post nine for driver Stephane Brosseau and in post eight is Macho Polo (post 8) who brings in a two-race winning streak, having won his last start by a nose in 3:03. That was in a special 1.5 mile race at H3R.

Driver Pascal Berube has ten drives in the eleven races on Sunday as he continues to try and become the first driver in H3R history to win 100 races in a single season. He enters the final three days of the race meet at H3R with 91 wins.

Averaging three wins per card throughout the season at H3R, the feat is not impossible for Berube. It is just that no driver has ever been this close to 100 wins in the history of the track. On average most leading driver titles at H3R have been won with 40 to 50 wins. Berube is a shoo-in to win his third straight driving title at H3R. Now we will see if he can achieve the magic number of 100 wins.

First race post time on Sunday is 12:00 noon. Fans can get a free race program by clicking here.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Steve Wolf, for the Quebec Jockey Club