Ormstown (QUE), just above the New York State northern border, held the last scheduled stop on the 2018 Quebec regional circuit on Saturday afternoon, with the track record for pacers first being tied, then broken, and then the new mark being tied again.
El Torero, owned, trained and driven by Denis Audet, won both heats of a two-heat race, in the second heat covering the mile in 2:01.4, which equaled the previous Ormstown standard shared by Trys Little Prince, Bali, and Camco Richie.
In the race after that, owner/trainer/driver Audet came back with Northern Juno to obliterate that mark, winning on the engine from the rail in 2:00.1.
In that race after that, Whitemountain Nemo, who had won in 1:54.4 at Rideau Carleton Thursday night, came right back on Saturday afternoon to equal that newly-minted 2:00.1 Ormstown mark. Owned by 9267 7327 Quebec Inc., Whitemountain Nemo was driven by Samuel Fillion for trainer Charles Gaudreault.
by Jerry Connors