Trois-Rivieres, QC – The three-year-old harness racing pacing colt, Retour Au Jeu (which means Back To Play in French), notched his third straight victory with a lifetime mark of 1:54.2 in winning the $10,000 colt division of the Breeders Trophy Series at the Hippodrome 3R Sunday.
This was the final preliminary leg of the series, which will culminate on Sunday, September 27 with the top eight point earners from both the colt and filly divisions competing in their respective $65,000 finals.
The seventh race co-feature saw Whitecookie (Marie Claude Auger) leave strongly from post five and cut the mile to the first quarter in :27.2 with Shanghaigold (Alain Filion) sitting the pocket trip.
By the half mile marker in :56.2, Brutus Bayama (Tyler Jones) came first-over with Retour Au Jeu (Jonathan Lachance) second-over.
Then in the backstretch, Lachance moved Retour Au Jeu three-wide at the three-quarters in 1:25 and they were able to collar race leader Whitecookie.
The two leaders then battled down the stretch with Retour Au Jeu the strong horse, coming on to win by one and three-quarter lengths in 1:54.2. Whitecookie was second with Brutus Bayama third.
Sired by He's Watching, Retour Au Jeu posted his fifth win in nine starts for trainer Maxime Velaye and owner-breeder Guy Corbeil of Mirabel. He paid $7.70 to win.
Acaena De Chakrika continued her dominance of the Breeders Trophy Series for the fillies as she won the first race, first division with ease for driver Stephane Brosseau despite some tough attempts from her competitors.
SOS Cupcake with driver Samuel Fillion shot to the early lead and then parked out Acaena De Chakrika past the opening quarter mile in :27.3 and did not let them pass until heading to the half mile.
Once on the lead, Acaena De Chakrikad breezed by the half mile in :57.1, but once in the backstretch she was then challenged by a determined Kinnder Lolita (Frances Picard) who collared the 1/9 race favorite at the three-quarters in 1:28.2.
Brosseau pulled the ear plugs on Acaena De Chakrikad, then parked out Kinnder Lolita around the final turn and pulled away from the field in the stretch to win by four lengths in 1:59.2. YS Big Girl (Carl Duguay) closed with a ton of speed to be second with Kinnder Lolita third.
It was the third straight win for Acaena De Chakrikad. The Sunshine Beach filly is trained by Dany Fontaine for owner-breeder Diane Lepine of Quebec City. She paid just $2.10 to win.
The fastest of the two filly divisions came in the fifth race where Streakazana was able to beat race favorite Zar E IP.
Zar E IP and driver Pascal Berube shot to the early lead with Perfect Romi (Sylvain Lacaille) in the pocket seat to the opening quarter mile in :27.4.
Lotus Sena (Stephane Gendron) came first-over before the half mile in :58 with Streakazana second-over. Then in the backstretch, driver Stephane Brosseau moved three-wide with Streakazana at the three-quarters in 1:26.4, cleared to be first-over on the final turn.
Then in the stretch Streakazana collared Zar E IP and went on to win by one and one-quarter lengths in 1:57.3. Zar E IP was second with Perfect Romi third.
It was the second straight win and fourth of the year for Streakazana, who is sired by Western Paradise and trained by Francis Richard for the MCR Streakazana Group of Charlottetown, PEI. He paid $5.50 to win.
Track Notes: In addition to winning both filly divisions, Stephane Brosseau led all driver with three winners. Trainer Francis Richard had two winners. At the Quebec Regional Fair Circuit races held at Gaudreault's (4G) farm at St-Joseph-de-Lapage Saturday, the all-age track record for trotters was re-written by Mr Logan Mirox in 2:02.1 for owner-trainer-driver Michel Audet. He was the only trotter in the race. Previous record was 2:03.1 set by Abundasass in 2018. Live racing resumes at H3R on Friday, September 11 with an earlier post time of 1:00 pm. Featured will be the third leg of the Future Stars Series for three-year-old trotters. For more information, visit www.hippodrome3r.ca.
From the Quebec Jockey Club