from the Quebec Jockey Club

Trois-Rivieres, PQ — The opening round of the C$220,000 Future Stars Series for 2-year-old pacing colts and fillies at the Hippodrome 3R Sunday (July 23) provided for plenty of excitement for racing fans.

In the 3rd race first division of the Future Stars Series for colts, the 6-5 race favorite, Undefeated Lucky Match (Yves Filion) made a break at the start and was never a factor in the race. It was Chloes Master and driver Steeven Genois shooting right to the lead from post five, then stuffing Power Fog (Jocelyn Gendron) into the pocket seat at the opening quarter-mile in :29.4.

thephotodesk.ca photo

Chloes Master breaks his maiden at H3R on Sunday afternoon.

Genois was then able to back down the pace to the half-mile. Then in the backstretch, Gendron came out to challenge again to no avail as after the three-quarters, Genois was able to open up on the field with Chloes Master and win by 3-1/4 lengths in 2:01.1. Leader Tonight (Mario Charron) was second with Power Fog third.

It was the maiden victory for Chloes Master, a gelded son of Vintage Master, who is a half-brother to Quebec champion 2-year-old, Queen Elsa, a C$50,000 winner last year. He is being trained by Michel Allard for owner and Trois-Rivieres native, Daniel Dube, one of the top harness racing drivers in the sport. Dube and Guy Boulianne also bred Chloes Master, who paid $6.30 to win.

Then in the fifth race, second colt division of the series, it was all Stock and driver Stephane Brosseau, easily leading from start to finish. After the half mile marker, the colt by Sportswriter, opened up on the field, leading by six lengths at the three-quarters and then coasting to the wire by 10-1/4 lengths in 1:58.1. G A Speed Sammy (Alain Carrier) was second with Phil Dorleans (Louis-Philippe Roy) third.

Trained by Dany Fontaine for breeder Sotirios Anastasopoulos, who co-owns Stock with Gaetan Bono Stable, it was the second straight win to remain unbeaten. He paid $2.90 to win.

The fillies provided big excitement in the sixth race, first division as Sharks Summshandy (Sylvain Lacaille) went to the early lead with Keesha challenging and then Liisawithtwoeyes (Louis-Philippe Roy) going three-wide to take command. Then after the half-mile, the 3-5 race favorite, Katniss S BG and trainer/driver Yves Filion, who had broken stride at the start, came first-over with 15-1 La Balafre (Stephane Brosseau) following second-over, but the pace was not fast enough for Brosseau as he took La Balafre three-wide to take the lead and then pull away in the stretch to win by two lengths in 2:01.2.

Katniss S BG was second with Sharksummrshandy third.

It was a lifetime mark and the maiden victory for La Balafre. The daughter of L H Stryker is trained by Jean Tourigny for owner Michel Damphousse and paid $33.30 to win.

The seventh race second division for fillies was just as exciting as the first.

The 3-5 race favorite, Butterfly BG and driver Stephane Gendron went to the early lead with Miss Rockadali (Yves Filion) grabbing the two-hole spot by the opening quarter-mile in a quick :28.4. They raced that way to the half-mile marker when 22-1 D Gs Shadowbell and driver Jonathan Lachance came first-over to challenge with Road To Lea (Stephane Brosseau) second-over.

As they raced down the backstretch to the three-quarters, Brosseau tried the same move that won the prior race with La Balafre, sending Road To Lea three-wide and the filly nearly cleared to the lead on the field turn, setting up three horses across as they came down the stretch.

D Gs Shadowbell, who most would think would be tired after racing first-over since the half-mile, but the filly dug in for Lachance and came on to win by 1-1/2 lengths with Butterfly GB second and Road To Lea third in 2:01.3.

Trained by Mario Lachance, D Gs Shadowbell is by Shadow Play and was bred and is owned by Daniel Surprenant and paid $46.00 to win.

Track Notes: It took until the eighth race Invitational race for top driver Louis-Philipe Roy to bring one home. After being stung by Arazi (Mario Charron) to the opening quarter-mile in :27, Sports Authority and driver Pierre-Luc Roy cleared to the lead before the half mile in :55.

But there was little rest for the weary as young brother Louis-Philipe Roy was on the move first-over with race favorite Half A Billion. Those two then went head-to-head by the three-quarters in 1:24 before Half A Billion cleared to the lead and won by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:54.2. Rainbow Palace (Francis Picard) nipped Sports Authority for second place.

It was the seventh straight win this year for Half A Billion, who paid $3.10 to win.

At St-Joseph-De-Lepage racetack in Quebec yesterday, Abundasass broke the 55-year-old track record on the trot when he won for 3R’s leading driver, Stephane Brosseau, in 2:03.1. The former track record was set by Anne Gallon in 1962.

The 10-year-old Abundance gelding, trained by Marc Andre Simoneau and co-owned by him and Francis Guillemette, is a familiar name to 3R fans.

On July 1, he won at St-Hughes; the next day he won in at 3R. A winner at St-Hughes again on July 8, he made his previous start at 3R on July 18, finishing fifth after being elevated to the Invitational-Silver class.

Coming up this Tuesday at H3R is the last Tuesday night live race program of the season. Post time is 7:00 pm.

There will be one Wednesday night live program on Aug. 16, when H3R hosts a leg of the World Driving Championship. Post time will be 7:00 pm.

For more information, visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.