Trotters battle right to the wire at H3R

In a thrilling two-horse battle down the stretch, $575,000 career winner Only For Justice (Justice Hall) was able to beat Royalty Beer in the final strides to the wire in winning the harness racing featured trot Friday (Aug. 30) at the Hippodrome Trois-Rivieres in Quebec.

Competing in the 6^th race $8,500 trot for Quebec-breds, it was Royalty Beer and driver Pascal Berube leaving swiftly from post eight, clearing to the lead off the first turn from Frido PV (Stephane Brosseu). Royalty Beer led the field to the opening quarter mile in :28.4.

Also, on the move before the first quarter was Only For Justice and driver Francis Picard, starting up first-over and working their way towards the race leader at the half mile in :59.

Entering the backstretch, Berube asked Royalty Beer for a little more and they started to pull away from the field, except for Only For Justice as he kept up on the outside as the two horses were up by six lengths at the three quarters in 1:27.4.

Around the final turn and heading for the finish, Royalty Beer held a half a length lead on Only For Justice until the wire where Only For Justice was able to surge forward in the final strides to win by a half a head in 1:57.3. Thats Hooligan (William Roy) was back nine and one-half lengths in third. It was the fastest trotting mile this season at H3R.

ONLY FOR JUSTICE REPLAY

It was the third win this season for Only For Justice. The eight-year-old gelding is the class of the field with $579,899 in lifetime earnings. It was his 23^rd career win. He is trained by Linda Belanger for owner and breeder Gaetan Bono, Inc. of Laval, Que. and paid $10.30 to win.

In the 8^th race $7,000 co-feature for three-year-old colt and filly trotters saw the race favorite, Paradise Moni (Wheeling N Dealin, Denis St Pierre) go off-stride right at the start and that changed the complexion of race.

16-1 MVPs Daughter (Jerome Lombart) went right out to the early lead with Captain PV (Marie-Claude Auger) getting the two-hole trip.

MVPs Daughter led to the quarter in :29.2 and to the half mile in 1:00. Then starting up first-over from last place was Paradise Moni, who had regrouped from making the early break and caught the field.

As they approached the three-quarters, MVPs Daughter still led the field but as Paradise Moni was gaining first-over, out from the two-hole popped Captain PV to come first-over. The three quarters was 1:30.1.

Captain PV was then able to clear by Paradise Moni and come on in the stretch to win by one length in 1:59.3. MVPs Daughter held for second with Paradise Moni third.

CAPTAIN PV REPLAY

It was the sixth win in ten starts this year for Captain PV (Wheeling N Dealin), who is trained and co-owned by Serge Nadeau with Scott-Escuries Y Corriveau, Inc. The gelding paid $9.80 to win.

All of the three-year-olds in the race will return next Sunday, September 8, for their respective $65,000 Breeders Trophy Series Finals. It’s Super Sunday at H3R with all eight Quebec Championship Finals held with purses totaling more than $500,000. It is the richest day of racing in all of Quebec.

Track Notes: H3R leading driver Pascal Berube had a driving triple on Friday. Marie-Claude Auger, who is in second place in the driver standings, had a driving double. Live racing resumes on Sunday with first race post time at 12:00 noon. Featured will be the 10^th race pace with Light The Torch, fresh off a 1:54.2 score at Rideau Carleton going against Frozen Hanover, who last week wired the field at H3R in 1:56. For more information and free race programs, visit here.

For complete race results, click here.

by Steve Wolf, for the Quebec Jockey Club