by the Quebec Jockey Club

Trois-Rivieres, QC — The stage is set for the inaugural Ben Hur Cup at the Hippodrome 3R on Sunday (June 24) and both harness racing drivers in this classic face-off, have agreed to a “gentleman’s wager” for the event. The Ben Hur Cup will pit the champion, Sylvain Filion, against the challenger, Louis-Phillipe Roy, in eight tournament races, the second through the ninth races on the 10-race program.

The first and 10th races are the second round of the Quebec-Bred Series for 4-and 5-year-old pacers and it was decided that stakes races should not be used for the competition.

After the post position draw last Tuesday, both drivers took turns selecting the horses they wanted to drive. They also had to make their selections insuring that they each had one of the eight post positions for the eight races.

“First of all,” Roy said. “I want to thank my scouting team and everybody that helped me with the draft of horses I will drive. I’m very confident with all the selections we’ve made. Among the selections, I would say that Loves A Challenge is my best bet while Akoya is my spot play.”

The point system for the Ben Hur Cup will be as follows:
First place – 8 points
Second place – 7 points
Third place – 6 points
Fourth place – 5 points
Fifth place – 4 points
Sixth place -3 points
Seventh place – 2 points
Eight place – 1 point

Race fans from across the world via Facebook were asked what the “gentleman wager” between these two great drivers should be. The wager agreed upon by Filion and Roy that was suggested by the race fans is that the loser of the competition will have to pull a jog cart up and down in front of the grandstand with the winner aboard holding the Ben Hur Cup.

“I just hope for Sylvain that he has good shoeing,” Roy laughed. “I don’t want him to make a break while pulling me around in the race bike.”

Naturally, Filion had a response.

“I feel very confident that I will win the tournament,” Filion said. “I like the horses I got. I under rated about difficult it would be to select the horses I am driving. I did not think it would be that hard. But this was the best way to do it, very fair for both of us.

“I have told him (LPR) that I was fine with the wager. But I told him I weigh a little bit more than you and that he might have a hard time carrying me all around. I don’t know if he could make it a whole mile.”

This will make for some great video and photographs and a lot of laughs and cheers from the race fans.

First race post time is 12:50 p.m.

Both Filion and Roy will be in the grandstand at 11:30 a.m. for a special meet and greet autograph session.

There is also the special video done by H3R for the Ben Hur Cup at https://youtu.be/v4LachSZyTo.

For a free race program for Sunday’s card, visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.