Strong crowd greets opening day at H3R

Trois-Rivieres, QC – With spectators finally allowed without covid restrictions, opening day of the Hippodrome 3R 40-day race meet featured a strong crowd of race fans enjoying the live harness racing and sunny skies.

And the racing action was fast and furious starting off with the very first race, a trotting event featuring both of the Quebec Champion two-year-olds from 2021, Stella Alpha and Royalty Beer.

It was P C Heisenberg and driver Marie-Claude Auger who shot out to the early lead with Stella Alpha (Pascal Berube) in the pocket seat and SG Goliath King (Steeve Genois) stuck first-over to the quarter mile pole in :29.3.

Eventually SG Goliath King got into the pocket-seat after the half mile in :59.3. Then taking on P C Heisenberg with a first-over move was the 4/5 race favorite Laa Dee Gaa and driver Stephane Brossseau by three-quarters in 1:29.2.

Then it seemed that Auger was able to find another gear for P C Heisenberg as they pulled away from Laa Dee Gaa in the stretch to win with ease by two and one-quarter lengths in 1:59.2. Laa Dee Gaa was second with Stella Alpha third and Royalty Beer (Kevin Maguire) fourth.

It was a lifetime mark for P C Heisenberg and the eight-year-old gelding by Cornaro Dasolo’s first start of the 2022 season. He is trained by Marie Dumas and co-owned with Andre Boucher and Gaetan Jobin. Sent off at odds of 4-1, P C Heisenberg paid $10.80 to win.

It was also the first win by P C Heisenberg since January 1, 2020, 65 starts between victories.

P C HEISENBERG REPLAY

It took the photo finish camera to declare Radley Hanover (Steeve Genois) the winner by a long nose over D Gs De Vito (Jonathan Lachance) in the Preferred Pace for the horses.

Genois sent Radley Hanover ($9.30) first-over against pacesetter Dreydl Hanover (Pascal Berube) and when Radley Hanover looked Dreydl Hanover in the eye on the final turn, Dreydl Hanover went off-stride. Radley Hanover then had to hold off D Gs De Vito in the stretch for the nose win in 1:56.1, the fastest mile on the card today. Windsong Napoleon (Samuel Fillion) was third.

RADLEY HANOVER REPLAY

In the Preferred-Handicap Trot it was all Gloire Dream ($2.50) and driver Samuel Fillion. EAU Naturelle (Stephane Brosseau) was the early race leader until Fillion took Gloire Dream first-over, past EAU Naturelle by three-quarters and went on to win in a romp by four and one-half lengths in 1:58.4 for his third win this year. Archimed Alpha was second with EAU Naturelle third.

The Preferred-Handicap Mares Pace saw Erikas Shadow and driver Pascal Berube get second-over cover and then overtake pacesetter Acefortyfour Dome (Stephane Brosseau) to win by one and one-half lengths in 1:56.3. Platine Alpha (Jimmy Gagnon) was third. Erikas Shadow paid $3.00 to win.

TRACK NOTES: Defending driving champion Pascal Berube led all drivers with a triple opening day. Steeven Genois had a driving double. Live racing resumes at H3R next Sunday with first race post time at 12:00 noon.

For more information, visit here.

For complete race results, click here.

By Steve Wolf, for the Quebec Jockey Club