There were four divisions of the opening round of the series that feature three legs of preliminary competition with the top eight-point earners returning for their respective $55,000 final on Sunday, September 27 at H3R.
Hall of Famer Yves Filion started off the show winning the third race first division for the fillies with 11-1 long shot Celia Bayama.
The 1/9 favorite, CL Sportsextreme (Guy Gagnon) took the lead away from Paltine Alpha (Carol Voyer) after a :28.1 opening quarter mile. After the half mile in :58.2, CL Sportsextreme looked very comfortable on the lead, passing the three-quarters in 1:28.1.
Filion, who sat in the back of the pack with Celia Bayama finally got into the hunt on the final turn, sweeping three-wide from sixth place. Then as they reached the top of the stretch, CL Sportsextreme made a costly break and was pulled into the infield as the field came down the stretch.
Filion and Celia Bayama had the most momentum and came on in the stretch to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:59.1. Ibiza Panic (Francis Picard) was second with Nikita Sena (Steeven Genois) third.
It was the maiden victory for Celia Bayama after three lifetime starts. The daughter of Bettor’s Delight, a homebred from the Bayama Farms of Saint-Andre-D’Argenteuil, is trained by Filion and paid $25.00 to win.
The sixth race second division for the fillies saw D Gs Magicmoment and driver Jonathan Lachance sit the pocket trip, then move to the lead over SOS Faline (Stephane Brosseau) and led the rest of the one-mile pace, winning by a half length over SOS Faline with SG Alexia (Sylvain Grenier) third.
It was also the maiden victory after four lifetime starts for D Gs Magicmoment. Sire by Control The Moment, D Gs Magicmoment is trained by Guylaine Fortin for breeder-owner Daniel Surprenant of Saint-Valentin and paid just $2.10 to win.
The fastest of the colt division went to Cadillac Bayama with trainer/driver Yves Filion in the seventh race.
It was the race favorite YS Do It Right and driver Stephane Brosseau who took the lead away from Gordro Outofhisway (Pierre Luc Roy) after a :28.4 opening quarter and :59 half mile with Filion and Cadillac Bayama sitting in third place waiting to make their move.
That move came at the three-quarters in 1:29.3 as Filion came first-over against Brosseau and Cadillac Bayama was up to the task but took an intense stretch drive battle before Cadillac Bayama got up at the wire by a neck over YS Do It Right in 1:58.1. Godro Outofhisway was third.
It was the second straight win after three lifetime starts for Cadillac Bayama. He is sired by Sunshine Beach and bred and owned by Bayama Farms, paying $5.10 to win.
The fourth race first division for the colts saw race favorite D Gs Runforhim and driver Jonathan Lachance lead from start to finish in a slow 2:03.4. Yves Filion made a late bid with Colonel Bayama and was second by one length with Moobeam Godro (Pascal Berube) third.
A colt by Sportswriter, D Gs Runforhim posted his maiden victory after three lifetime starts for trainer Guylaine Fortin, who co-owns and bred the colt with Daniel Surprenant. He paid $3.80 to win.
Track Notes: Ironically, in the last race at H3R Sunday, the winner was Eclat De Rire ($2.80), who was the Quebec Champion last year in this division. He scored a lifetime mark of 1:56.1. In addition to Filion and Lachance scoring driving doubles, so did Stephane Gendron, who is now tied with Pascal Berube at 23 wins each in the driver standings. Both Filion and Fortin had training double along with the leading trainer this meet, Maxime Velaye. Next weekend will be the last three-day weekend of live harness racing at H3R. Friday (4:00 pm) will feature the opening round of the Future Stars Series for two-year-old trotters, Saturday (1:00 pm) is the final day of racing for the Quebec Regional Fair Circuit and Sunday (1:00 pm) is the second leg of the Breeders Trophy Series for three-year-old pacers. For more information, visit www.hippodrome3r.ca.
From the Quebec Jockey Club