TROIS RIVIERES, QUEBEC – The Sunday feature at Hippodrome Trois Riveries / 3R was the Lucien Bombardier Stake for two-year-old pacing fillies. Mr. Bombardier, who is a member of the Canadian Harness Racing Hall of Fame, had a career of over 50 years in the standardbred sport, during which he progressed through the ranks from horseman to administrator/executive to one of the great organizers and "builders" of the sport, especially in his native Quebec.
The 1:58.4 winner of the $38,500 event was Azure Seelster, a filly whose breeding Mr. Bombardier, also a stock farm executive, would admire: a daughter of Shadow Play out of Winbak Alice, whose dam Lady Camella was bred to Shadow Play and produced no less than the $1.9M-winning world champion Lady Shadow.
While Azure Seelster may have a bit more to accomplish to get in the Lady Shadow category, she already has four victories, including two Ontario Roots victories and the Bombardier. At 3R driver Louis Philippe Roy bided his time early as Lit De Rose, the recent winner of the Prix de l'Avenir 2PF Championship, went to the early lead, then brushed up to take command nearing the 27.4 quarter. The rest was anticlimax, with Roy posting middle splits of 58 and 1:28.4, then drew away from Lit De Rose (driven by his brother Pierre Luc Roy) for a six length victory.
The winner, trained by Jacques Dupont, was part of a three-way coupled entry with interlocking ownership; the full ownership of the winner of $50,537 is Les Ecuries Dorleans Inc., 9099 3833 Quebec Inc, 2745 5815 Quebec Inc., and Paul Lehoux.
There were enough fast-class trotters to have two divisions of the Invitational, the "Or" (gold) and the "Argent" (silver).
In the top class, which went for $8000, the Broadway Hall gelding Unabating had to live up to his name, as he was parked most of the mile, yet still managed to hang on to the wire, stopping the timer in 2:00.1 to run his 2016-17 record to 21 wins in 48 starts. Guy Gagnon, the leading driver in North America in the 300-499 drives category, is the driver and trainer of Unabating for owner Catheline Pelletier.
In the $5000 second-level trot, the Kadabra gelding Tuscans Memory had to go the tough first-over route, but she proved game and turned back a closely-packed group at the wire to tally in 2:00.3. Jocelyn Gendron had sulky duty behind the six-time seasonal winner for trainer Pierre Ouellette Jr. and the ownership of 9172-3161 Quebec Inc.
Contrasting the trotting situation, the Invitational pace did not fill this week, so the Royal Mattjesty mare Rainbow Palace, who defeated "the boys" in the August 27 Invite, was able to get into the top fast-class pace of the day, worth $3800, via an AE condition, and Rainbow Palace took full advantage of the opportunity, as the Dominique Picard-trained distaff was quarter-moved by owner/driver Francis Picard and increased her margin in the last stanza, finishing by herself in 1:55.4.
FINISHING LINES – Mister Big Top set a track record of 2:58 for 1½ miles on the pace Saturday at the Bedford regional oval on Saturday while winning the $5000 Serie de L'Estrie Finale, defeating Maximus Decimus and thereby reversing a decision occurring over a mile the previous Monday at the Brome regional track. Mister Big Shot knocked 2/5 of a second off the Bedford mark for the extended distance, set by Bali a year minus a day earlier … Bedford, located near the Quebec-New York-Vermont border (and not far from where Lucien Bombardier grew up), is generally considered the fastest of the Quebec regional circuit tracks, and six miles in 2:00 or less Saturday supported this belief, with the quickest a 1:56 victory for Chaleurs Magic and driver Dany Mainguy.
Quebec Jockey Club