from the Quebec Jockey Club

Trois-Rivieres, QC — Holiday Party and driver Francis Picard brought plenty of cheer to those who supported him at the betting windows Sunday (June 3) at the Hippodrome 3R as the 13-1 long shot upset the field in the Invitational-Handicap Trot.

thephotodeskca photo

Holiday Party wins the International Trot at H3R on Sunday.

The sixth race feature began with the race favorite, Kinnder Dangerous and driver Justin Filion, outdueling Caroluzzo (Stephane Gendron) for the early lead by the opening quarter-mile in :28.3. Filion then led the field to the half mile marker in :59 with Kinnder Dangerous as Torches Angel (Jocelyn Gendron) came first-over to challenge with Holiday Party grabbing the second-over cover.

They raced down the backstretch the final time with Torches Angel unable to gain ground on the outside against Kinnder Dangerous as they past the three-quarters in 1:29. Then on the final turn was when Picard made his big move with Holiday Park, sweeping three-wide and gaining ground on Kinnder Dangerous as Caroluzzo also found clearance as Torches Angel began to fade and he moved into the mix.

The race belonged to Holiday Party as he has good momentum and went on to beat Kinnder Dangerous by one length in 1:59.1. Caroluzzo was third. It was the second victory in nine starts this year for Holiday Party. The five-year-old gelded son of Holiday Road is trained by Isabelle Binet for the Holiday Party Stable of Portneuf and paid $29.20 to win.

Track Notes: In the second race pace, Flames Of Sport was making his racing debut from the rail for owner, trainer and driver, David Pilon. The 3-year-old colt by Sportswriter went off-stride at the start, spotting the field some lengths from last place. He then was not only able to regroup and catch the field in ninth place, but Pilon took him three-wide going into the backstretch from eighth place and was able to loop the entire field, collar pacesetter and race favorite Hercule J M (Carl Duguay) and beat him to the wire to win by three-quarters of a length and pay $9.20 to win.

Both Stephane Brosseau and Francis Picard had driving doubles on the program.

Wildriverbumblebee, the 2017 Quebec Champion 3-year-old, won his second qualifier at H3R Saturday in 1:58.1 for breeder, owner and trainer Dr. John Bradbury.

Live racing resumes Tuesday night at H3R with first race post time at 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.