by the Quebec Jockey Club

Trois-Rivieres, PQ — The second round of the C$100,000 Quebec-Bred Series for 4-and 5-year-old pacers is the main event at the Hippodrome 3R (H3R) this Sunday (May 21) with two full fields of 10 starters going over the half-mile oval. After four weeks of preliminary action, the top eight money earners will return on Sunday (June 11), for their respective C$30,000 finals.

thephhotodesk.ca photo

HP Sissy (1a) collarsstablemate HP Pandora (1) at H3R in the opening round of the $100,000Quebec-Bred Series Sunday (May 14).

The older mares are first in the limelight in the sixth race and are once again headed by the entry of HP Sissy and HP Pandora, both of whom are bred and co-owned by Claude Hamel. HP Sissy is co-owned by Hamel with Michel Damphousse

HP Sissy got the best of her stablemate last week, coming on in late stretch over the sloppy track to win by three-quarters of a length after HP Pandora had led the field from the start.
This week, HP Sissy starts from post five and will have the driving services of top reinsman, Guy Gagnon, who makes his first appearance at H3R this year. HP Pandora goes from post two for regular driver Stephen Brosseau.

But it will not be a “walk in the park” again for the entry will face some stiff competition from both Drift Panic and Wanda Bayama.

Drift Panic starts from post four for driver Francis Picard and trainer Jean Tourigny and last week scored an impressive 1:57.2 qualifying win at H3R by more than 20 lengths, the last quarter in :28.4.

Wanda Bayama brings Hall of Famer Yves Filion back to H3R where this mare has been a Sire Stakes champion. The C$163,000 career winner has been competing with success at Woodbine and Mohawk Raceway with two wins and a record of 1:52.4.

The older horses get underway in the eighth race where Half A Billion is the race favorite once again after his impressive six length triumph over the sloppy track last week in the opening round. The 5-year-old gelded son of Sportswriter starts from post four for driver Francis Picard and has nearly C$40,000 earned already this year for trainer Francis Richards.

New to the lineup this week is Rideau Carlton invader, Killer Thriller, who starts from the second tier in post nine. The 5-year-old gelded son of Jereme’s Jet is on a three-race winning streak with five wins already this year the fastest 1 :53.4 lifetime mark.

The two full brothers from the stable of Dany Fontaine finished second and third last week to Half A Billion. Mach On The Beach, age 5, was second for driver Pascal Berube and will start from post 10 in the second tier, while younger brother Mr Mach On Beach, goes from post three for driver Stephane Brosseau.

Also in the field are top Sire Stakes performers from last season, HP Patriote (Guy Gagnon) from post seven, Sugarsam (Stephane Gendron) post two and Sports Authority (Pierre-Luc Roy) in post eight.

The 10th race preferred pace has 10 starters also and is headlined by four return winners, Arazi (post four), Code Word (post seven), Royal Kee Wee N (post nine) and Glass Shadow (post 10).

First race post time is 12:40 p.m. For more information, visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.

TRACK NOTES: After the dust has settled from last week’s amazing eight-win track record performance by defending leading driver Louis-Philippe Roy, Roy is back on top of the driver standings at H3R and has an amazing driver rating of .778. Stephane Gendron, who is now just four wins away from his 4,000th career win, is in second place with seven wins and Richard Simard is in third place with six wins.

Defending leading trainer, Yves Tessier, is on top again among the trainers with five wins from his stable. Daniel Martin is right behind him with four wins. Daniel LaFlamme is in third place with three wins after sending just four horses to post this meet.