from the Quebec Jockey Club

Trois-Rivieres, PQ — Harness racing driver Louis-Philippe Roy experienced on Sunday (May 14) at the Hippodrome 3R what most drivers only dream about, scoring eight winners on a single program.

Roy was down to drive in 11 of the 13 races on the card. Little did he know it would be a history making afternoon. The prior record was six wins on a program, set by Yannick Gingras in 2013.

Thephotodesk.ca photo

Louis-Philippe Roy holds a saddlepad that shows the number of winners he drove on Sunday.

“I knew I had some competitive horses,” Roy said, “but I didn’t think before the races that eight of them could win. Some of them really surprised me and were feeling really good yesterday.

“It was really great to have my parents in the winner’s circle for the eight races, especially my mom, as it was Mother’s Day.”

Only three of his 11 drives Sunday were race favorites on the morning line odds, which did not prevent him from achieving eight victories. Of the eight victories, one was from the 10th post position, two from the nine-hole (both posts are in the second tier) and twice from the seventh post position. That is tough to do on a fast track, which was not the case at H3R Sunday as constant rains had the track listed as sloppy with a five second allowance.

“I was happy to have a break of a race to clean my face and my eyes,” Roy laughed. “It was really muddy out there.”

In the ninth race, Roy was driving the race favorite, Code Word, who broke stride leaving from post five and Roy could not get him back on stride and was in seventh place on the outside by a dozen lengths after the start. They raced on the outside the entire mile and still were able to come on and win by a half-length.

“I was just trying to get him back pacing in a hurry,” Roy explained. “Because I know he is a really good horse when he feels good like he was yesterday.”

Roy seemed to be all over the track Sunday, racing on the front end when possible, but most of the time he was two- and three-wide with horses on the sloppy track.

“Some horses were feeling so good,” Roy said, “that I wasn’t concerned at all using them earlier to make sure that I stayed close of the leaders. The track was good enough that I was not worried when I had to go three-wide with some of them.”

When will Roy be coming back to drive again at H3R?

“I’m not 100 percent sure,” Roy said, “but I might be there on May 28 for the last elims of the 4- and 5-year-olds Quebec. For sure I will be back on Sunday (June 4) for the All-Stars Driving Tournament. I really look forward to competing then.”

So, after a long drive from Toronto to Quebec, then driving and winning eight of the 11 races he was in, what did Louis-Philippe Roy do to celebrate after the races Sunday?

“We went to a restaurant with friends,” Roy said, “and they then went to Karaoke afterwards, but I had to miss it, I was too tired from all the traveling. By the way, I would like to congratulate Karaoke contest winner, Guillaume Desrochers, for his interpretation of “Femme libérée” in an even better way than Cookie Dingler!”