Denis St Pierre returning to drive at Hippodrome 3R

During the 2014 and 2015 harness racing season at the Hippodrome 3R (H3R) in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, the household driver name at the track was Denis St Pierre.

St Pierre, now age 62, who was born and raised in Montreal, was on a roll, winning back-to-back driving titles at H3R and in 2015 scored a career milestone, notching his 4,000th driving victory.

For the past nine years, St Pierre has been missing from the driver’s colony at H3R, competing mainly in Ontario, but that has all changed for 2024.

“The main reason I have returned to the Hippodrome 3R,” said Denis St Pierre. “Is that I really was missing my family and my home town of Montreal. Back in 2016 one of my owners wanted to buy Ontario-sired babies to race and there were nice classes for my horses on the B tracks in Ontario. That is why I left H3R.

“I never got much of a break there,” St Pierre added.

Now, returning to H3R, St Pierre has three drives on opening day at the track on Sunday, May 5. How was the reaction when people first saw him at the H3R qualifying races?

“People were reacting well I think,” St Pierre said. “I hope to get more drives each week and soon I will bring two of my own horses to race there.”

St Pierre will have his work cut out for him at H3R this season. Driver Pascal Berube is going for his fifth straight driving title. Other drivers returning include Stephane Brosseau, Jocelyn Gendron, Marie-Claude Auger, Robert Shepherd, Francis Picard and a host of other young and upcoming drivers. It will not be an easy task to get catch-drives at H3R.

“I will have to be very competitive,” St Pierre added. “And I need to win some races and then I am sure the trainers and owners will notice, and I will get more drives.”

There are ten races scheduled at H3R for opening day on Sunday. All ten races are full fields with either eight or nine starters in each contest.

Does Denis St Pierre have a shot at winning one of his three drives on Sunday?

“I think in the very first race I have a good chance with Shanghaigold,” St Pierre said. “He won his qualifying race for Pascal Berube in 2:00.4, the last quarter in :29. But he has the far outside post 8. That will be the difficult part to overcome, but we will see.

“I just love Quebec,” St Pierre added. “I have such good memories of driving at Trois-Rivieres and look forward to my return on Sunday.”

First race post time on Sunday is at 12:00 noon. For a free race program, visit here.

by Steve Wolf, for the Quebec Jockey Club