Stella Alpha, Royalty Beer romp in Breeders Trophy Series

Trois-Rivieres, QC – Stella Alpha (Royalty For Life) scored in a romp in capturing the $10,000 final leg of the Breeders Trophy Series for three-year-old trotters at the Hippodrome 3R Friday.

It was the eighth win of the year for Stella Alpha, seven of those wins coming at H3R, making her the winningest horse of the race meet.

Driven by H3R’s leading driver Pascal Berube for leading trainer Sylvain Tremblay, Stella Alpha got away in third place as the 6^th race co-feature for the fillies started off with Cleveland Moneyka (Stephane Brosseau) going to the early lead.

Once settled, Berube came right after the leader with Stella Alpha after a :29.2 opening quarter mile and took command. The filly then opened up on the field cutting the mile to half in :59.4 and the three-quarters in 1:29.1.

H P Felicity (Robert Shepherd) came first-over on the final turn, but the effort was in vain as Stella Alpha cruised home to win by four and one-half lengths in 1:58.3. H P Felicity was second with La Bromontoise (Jerome Lombart) third.

STELLA ALPHA REPLAY

Owned and bred by Tremblay’s Alpha Stable of Metabetchouan, Stella Alpha paid $3.20 to win as the wagering favorite.

An even bigger romp was scored by Royalty Beer (Royalty For Life) and driver Kevin Maguire in the $10,000 colt division of the Breeders Trophy Series.

The non-wagering race due to just four starters saw Royalty Beer get immediate separation from the field as he cut fractions of :29.1, :58.3 and 1:28.2 before pulling away in the stretch to win by nine and one-half lengths in 1:58.4. Sammy Justice (Pascal Berube) was second with Cleveland Massimo (Robert Shepherd) third.

It was a lifetime mark and the third win this year for Royalty Beer. He is trained by Jean-Francois Maguire and was bred and is co-owned by the Maguire Stable and Jean-Francois Maguire of Sainte-Marie.

Both Stella Alpha and Royalty Beer will now headline their respective $65,000 finals of the Breeders Trophy Series at H3R on Sunday, September 11.

Track Notes: Four drivers all had doubles on Friday. They were Stephane Brosseau, Pascal Berube, Jonathan Lachance and Robert Shepherd. Denitza Petrova was the only trainer to score a double. Live racing resumes on Sunday (Aug. 21) at H3R with the third and final preliminary leg of the Breeders Trophy Series for three-year-old pacing fillies and colts. Featured is the undefeated filly Majo Sport Bella while the colts are headlined by return winners Aladdin, Titanium Alpha and Jack Panic. Post time Sunday is 12:00 noon. For a free race program, click here.

For complete race results, click here.

by Steve Wolf, for the Quebec Jockey Club