Quebec-bred Open Trot at H3R Sunday

The limelight will be on the harness racing trotters come this Sunday, Oct. 20, at the Hippodrome 3R (H3R) in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec as nine high steppers will do battle in the $10,000 Open Trot for Quebec-Breds.

Thats Hooligan (Rose Run Hooligan) returns to H3R from Rideau Carleton where he won his last start for driver William Roy with a lifetime best effort of 1:57.4. Owned and trained by Peter Lepage of St-Liguori, Que., it was the fifth win this year for Thats Hooligan, who will start from post seven with Roy back in the sulky.

Rose Run Why Not (Uncle Peter) draws the rail for driver Pascal Berube and is one of two mares facing older horses in the race. It’s the first time for Berube to drive Rose Run Why Not, whose last start was in the Quebec Regional Fair Finals at H3R where the six-year-old mare wired the field in 1:59.4 for her seventh win this year. She is trained and co-owned by Carl Duguay with Investissement KFB.

The race favorite is Only For Justice from the far outside in post 8 for driver Stephane Brosseau. The class of the field sports lifetime earnings of $582,324, but has been winless in his last four starts.

Other standouts in the field include Kinnder Dangerzone (post 9, second tier) for driver Marie-Claude Auger. He has four wins this season and looks to be ready to rebound. La Bromontoise (post 2) is the second mare in the race. She has won two of her last three starts and has four wins on the season for Jerome Lombart, who owns, bred, trains and drives the five-year-old mare. Her prior wins at H3R were in 1:58.1, a lifetime mark two starts back and 1:58.2.

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

by Steve Wolf, for the Quebec Jockey Club