Trois-Rivieres, QC – Harness racing driver Stephane Brosseau has been on fire early this season and on Sunday he posted a career high of five winners at the Hippodrome 3R.
On opening day April 29, Brosseau has three winners, then last week he posted four victories on the card, but this Mother's Day Sunday he was at his best.
He started out winning the first race with My Lucky Bluejeans ($3.70) in 1:58.2, the third race with HP Run Like Mom ($2.60) in 2:01.1, the fourth race with Heather Loves NY ($7.00) in 1:57, the fifth race with Hard Rock ($19.50) in 1:58 and capped the day winning the sixth race with Solid Performance ($3.30) in 1:56.3.
After the seventh race, Brosseau left the track to head to Rideau Carleton Raceway for their evening program. He ended up winning five of the seven races he competed in at the Hippodrome 3R.
The all-time record for driving wins at the Hippodrome 3R is eight, set by Louis-Philippe Roy last year. That was on a 13-race program. Brosseau is now tied with Roy as the only two drivers at H3R to have five winners on a single program.
One of the races on program that Brosseau did not win was the seventh race Invitational-Handicap Trot that saw driver Marc Bellanger and Rocky Boy blow away the field.
Starting from post five with Rocky Boy, Belanger send the nine-year-old gelded son of Rocky Balboa after the lead and they took it away from Caroluzzo (Stephane Gendron) before the opening quarter mile in :28.1.
Then Belanger was just a passenger as Rocky Boy sped to the half mile in :58.1 and in the backstretch started to pull away from the field by the three-quarters in 1:27.4. They opened up in the stretch and won in a romp by nine and one-quarter open lengths in 1:57. Southwind Voltage (Jocelyn Gendron) was second with Caroluzzo third.
It was the first win on the year for Rocky Boy, who is trained by Stephane Beaudoin and co-owned by Belanger and Beaudoin of Trois-Rivieres. He paid $6.00 to win as the wagering favorite.
Ironically, Rocky Boy was the fastest trotter of the year at the Hippodrome 3R last year with a lifetime mark of 1:57 a little over one year ago.
Track Notes: There are now two horses that are undefeated this season at the Hippodrome 3R. They are Asfastasmysister ($2.40) who won the second race pace for Stephane Gendron and then in the third race trot, HP Run Like Mom ($2.60) and driver Stephane Brosseau were victorious again. Both are three-year-old fillies, each having three straight wins.
Live racing resumes at the Hippodrome 3R next Sunday, post time at 12:50 pm. For a free race program and more information, visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.
From the Quebec Jockey Club