from Hippodrome 3R

Trois-Rivieres, PQ — The Hippodrome 3R harness racing track in Quebec is ready to ring in the New Year with great racing and improvements for the 2015 season.

The half-mile oval will feature 40 days and nights of live racing action along with a robust stakes schedule and special events throughout the season. Opening day will be Sunday (May 3).

Starting right off the bat, the track will switch from Tuesday night live racing to Wednesday nights for 2015 and will feature 15 live race cards under the lights with first race post time at 7 p.m.

Sunday afternoons will still be the mainstay of the season with 25 programs and a new post time of 1:30 p.m., a half-hour later then in 2014.

And speaking of the Prix D’Ete, the Hippodrome 3R’s premier stakes event will take place in 2015 on Sunday (August 23). The 2014 race not only saw the great Sunfire Blue Chip and driver Yannick Gingras cruise the track in 1:50.3, but that clocking lowered the all-age track record by a full two seconds.

The Prix D’Ete will once again be for 4-year-old pacers with the top eight nominated horses with the highest money earned in 2015 eligible for the race.

And speaking of track records, 2014 was a banner season as 19 track records were either rewritten or equaled during the race meet and the action looks to be even better for 2015.

The Hippodrome 3R will again host the Quebec-Bred Series for 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds in 2015 with more than $1 million in prize money on the line.

The purse structure for the meet will remain the same in 2015 as it was in 2014, which was a 50 percent increase over the prior year.

“We are anxiously awaiting for opening day on Sunday, May 3,” said Vincent Trudel, general manager at the Hippodrome 3R. “We know that our 2015 meet will be great. We have created renewed interest in our racing product both locally and via simulcasting and are already working to improve our product this year.

“We have signed up more simulcast locations to take our signal in 2015. And we are looking to have both harness racing and Thoroughbred racing handicapping tournaments throughout our simulcasting off-track-betting network with the overall winners going to the national tournaments. We feel this will be very exciting for our horse players in Quebec.”

There will also be a new set of wheels going around the half-mile oval at 3R as track management has purchased a brand new Ford F-250 truck that is being outfitted by Howard’s Starting Gate in Ohio. The new starting gate will feature a 12 foot slant from the one post to the eighth position that will enable horses with outside starting positions a more competitive start.

Then on Oct. 11, the Hippodrome 3R will feature its third annual Drivers Tournament headlined by return winners Yannick Gingras and Jody Jamieson (if possible) plus a surprise guest competitor to be named later in the season.

“We had a good season of competition in 2014,” Trudel added, “and we expect to improve on that this year. Our colony of drivers, trainers and owners continues to grow in Quebec and thus we feel the competition at our races in 2015 will be that much better.”