from the Quebec Jockey Club

Trois-Rivieres, PQ — It was just one year ago that the 2-year-old pacing colt, Wildriverbumblebee, set the track record for his age and gait at Hippodrome 3R in winning his division of the C$480,000 Quebec championship finals. He scored a 1:54 victory that day.

Now age three, Wildriverbumblebee is back again, taking on a stellar field of seven rivals at the Hippodrome 3R as part of the eight championship finals with total purses again at C$480,000.

thephotodesk.ca photo

Happy owner/breeder Dr. John Bradbury and connections after Wildriverbumblebee’s win in last year’s championship final.

There are four C$65,000 finals of the Breeders Cup Series for 3-year-old trotters and pacers and four C$55,000 finals of the Future Stars Series for 2-year-olds.

At nearly C$500,00 in total purses for the 10-race program, it is the richest race card of the year at the Hippodrome 3R.

Wildriverbumblebee drew barrier seven in the eighth race final for 3-year-old pacing colts and will be driven by Stephane Brosseau, who has done very well with the colt this season.

Sired by Sportswriter, Wildriverbumblebee was bred and is owned by Dr. John Bradbury of Cookshire-Eaton. He is trained in by Francis Richard.

Currently on a two-race win streak, Wildriverbumblebee comes home to H3R off an impressive 1:53 lifetime mark in winning a C$18,000 division of the Ontario Sire Stakes Grassroots at Georgian Downs by 4-1/4 lengths. His prior start was a 1:54.1 triumph in an overnight race at Rideau Carlton.

Will the outside post be a problem for Wildriverbumblebee on Sunday?

“He (Wildriverbumblebee) is quite a versatile horse,” said owner Dr. John Bradbury. “And with Stephane Brosseau driving, he teams up pretty good with him. So, I think that they will be able to cope with starting from post seven.

“Wildriverbumblebee dealt good with the shipping to the Toronto area,” Dr. Bradbury said. “He was on his “A” game at Georgian Downs.”

Shipping back and forth between Ontario and Quebec has to be hard on a racehorse but Dr. Bradbury is positive about his colt. For most of the season Wildriverbumblebee has been lightly raced with two-week breaks between some starts.

“Wildriverbumblebee is in a good shape right now,” Dr. Bradbury explained. “All the shipping done in Aug. has made us decide to race him lighter this season.”

And it is paying off so far as Wildbumblebee has only 11 lifetime starts with six wins, three second and one third place finish, good for C$56,215 in earnings.

The 3-year-old colt pace program shows it is the most competitive race of the eight championship finals.

The race favorite is C L Sportsaction (post two) at 3-1. He was second by a neck in his last two starts at Rideau Carlton, timed in 1:54. Wildriverbumblebee is second choice at 7-2.

Rebel Voyager (post six) has beaten Wildriverbumblebee once in the series on July 16 and has an impressive 11 wins in 23 starts for trainer Francis Richard. They were eighth after broken equipment in his last start when Wildriverbumblebee won in 1:53, but prior to that the son of Shanghai Phil has been first or second in his last five starts.

Historie Enchantee (post eight) comes in on a two-race winning streak including a lifetime mark of 1:54. Other strong competitors include Western Phil (post three), who was second to Wildriverbumblebee last start and prior had won in 1:54.3 and No Play (post four), who has been second in his last three starts and this year has four wins, four seconds and eight third place finishes in just 15 starts.

The track record for 3-year-olds may not be surpassed in this race, mainly due to the fact that the record is an amazing 1:52.4 set by Duc D’Orleans in 2013.

“Anyone could win this race on Sunday,” concluded Dr. Bradbury. “It all depends how the race will unfold.”

Post time Sunday is 12:30 p.m. A free copy of the entire race program is available at www.quebecjockeyclub.com.