by Steve Wolf

Trois-Rivieres, QC — Just because he may be 13-years–old and just a year away from retirement, Hippodrome 3R track record holder, Pablo Angus, can still show his heels to his younger rival and did so in winning the Sunday (May 17) feature trot.

Driven by Mario Charron, Pablo Angus did not only win the third race Sunday, he did it with panache.

From the start the field of six rivals, some less than half his age, took their best shots at the older war horse. Le Senateur A L (Andre Lachance) left from post six and took early command away from Pablo Angus, but not for long as before the opening quarter mile, Charron moved his gelded son of Fortuna Winner to the front.

Then past the first quarter mile in 29.3, Pablo Cruise was challenged first-over by R Rkadabra (Stephane Gendron), who had made a break at the start, came back trotting and came after Pablo Angus and those two hooked up into a dogfight for control of the lead. To the half mile marker in :58, Pablo Cruise would not give way and R Rkadabra would not consider tucking into the two- hole.

So by the three-quarter mile in 1:28, R Rkadabra had had enough and began to tire, but only a little. Meanwhile at the three-quarters another horse with a bold move was Miss Jackpot and driver Serge Ouellet who went three-wide from the back of the pack to come after the leaders.

She was parked three-wide around the final turn but still had a head of steam and kept charging down the lane after Pablo Cruise and nearly caught him at the wire, losing by a neck to the track record holder in 2:00.2. Amazingly, R Rkadabra still was game enough after being parked out nearly the entire mile to finish third.

“For sure he is not the trotter he used to be at age three and four,” Charron said. “He is not as fast as he used to be but still a very classy horse. There are not many horses this classy who can still race so well at age 13 and 14. You cannot take the class out of a horse like him.

“I was surprised that Stephane Gendron would come after us like that with R Rkadabra,” Charron added, “It was not too smart a move. They made a break at the start and then come after me. He (R Rkadabra) looked to be the best horse in the race. If he had not make a break early I would have let them go, but because he had made a break I was not going to let him go.

“My horse was ready after his race last week,” Charron said. “I knew he was ready to fire so I could not let them get past us.”

It was only the second start this year for Pablo Angus, a career winner of $810,756. He is trained by Eric Gnooin and owned by Mario Bourgea of Stanbridge East, QC and paid a generous $9.20 to win.

It was back in July of 2008 that Pablo Angus set the track record for older trotters at the Hippodrome 3R in 1:56. That mark was tied just last year by Michelangelo.

In the ninth race co-feature pace, Royal Becquet (Stephane Brosseau) wired the field, giving race favorite, Onyx V A (Mario Charron) perfect cover in the two-hole, but Royal Becquet held game to the wire and it took a photo finish camera to declare him a winner by a nose. Who Dey (Pascal Berube) was third.

It was just the second start of the year for Royal Becquet, a 12-year-old gelded son of Yankee Cam. He paid $9.40 to win for owner/trainer Michel Allard of Saint-Esprit, QC.

Coming up this Wednesday at the Hippodrome 3R is the opening round of the Quebec-Bred Series for 4 and 5-year-old pacers and trotters with four divisions on the race program. First post time is 7 p.m. For more information go to www.quebecjockeyclub.com.