Trois-Rivieres, QC – Last week Seeyou Men was unable to collar race winner Capteur De Reve, but this Sunday Seeyou Men was able to grind it out again, this time for an impressive harness racing victory over Capteur De Reve in the Preferred Trot at the Hippodrome 3R.
Volare (Jocelyn Gendron) went off-stride right at the start of the race and that enabled race favorite Capteur De Reve (Stephane Gendron) to take control of the third race feature right from the start. Talbotcreek Suzie (Pascal Berube) grabbed the pocket-trip as they went to the opening quarter mile in :29.1.
Then Stephane Gendron backed Capteur De Reve to an easy half mile clocking in 1:00.4. That was when driver Francis Picard came first-over with Seeyou Men with Missionoftheheart (Tyler Jones) following their outside cover.
Picard rated Seeyou Men perfectly on the outside, collaring Capteur De Reve by the three-quarters in 1:30 and then by the top of the stretch, grabbed the lead and held off Capteur De Reve to win by one length in 2:00. Missionoftheheart was third.
It was the fourth win this year for Seeyou Men. The seven-year-old gelding by Muscle Mass is a former Quebec-bred champion and former track record holder at H3R. He is trained by Daniel Martin, bred by Chantal Gravel of St-Cyrille-De-Wendover who co-owns Seeyou Men with Catheline Pelletier of Mirabel. He paid $8.00 to win.
National Debt scored the fastest mile on the day as he overpowered a field of five rivals in the seventh race Preferred Pace.
Driven by Pascal Berube, National Debt had to grind it out early in the mile as a stubborn Histoire Enchantee (Stephane Gendron) parked them out to the opening quarter mile in :27.1, then to the half in :56. It was then that National Debut finally cleared to the lead.
They started to pull away by the three-quarters in 1:25 as National Debt kept his motoring running, stopping the teletimer in 1:54.2. He won by eight lengths over Maracasso (Carol Voyer) with Hooter Shooter (Francis Picard) third.
It was the 14th win this season for National Debt. The eight-year-old stallion by Allamerican Native is trained by Yves Tessier for owner Francois Morin of Beauceville. He paid $2.60 to win.
Steven Gagnon, 26, of Sorel Tracy, won his first professional pari-mutuel race Sunday, scoring a three and one-quarter length romp in the second race pace with Kiss Me Bad ($25.00). Gagnon owns and trains Kiss Me Bad, who scored a lifetime mark of 2:02.2. Gagnon had been competing in the Quebec Regional Fair Circuit the past four years.
The tote board nearly exploded in the 11th race when Free Proof and owner, trainer, driver Sylvain Fontaine swept five-wide on the final turn and came on to win at odds of 50-1, paying $102.60 to win.
Track Notes: Pascal Berube led all drivers on the afternoon with three wins. Trainer Yves Tessier had the hottest stable at H3R sending out three winners on the day. Next Sunday, November 10, will be closing day for the 2019 live harness racing season at the Hippodrome 3R. Presentations will be made to the race meets leading driver and trainer and a special blanket presentation will be made to the 14-year-old trotter, Chinnys Wings, who must retire from racing at the end of the year. For full race results, visit www.qubecjockeyclub.com.
From the Quebec Jockey Club