by The Quebec Jockey Club
Trois-Rivieres, QC — Imagine Speed and her young pilot, Tyler Jones, upset the opening round of the Quebec-bred Series for 4-and 5-year-old harness racing pacers, scoring a dramatic neck victory at odds of 15-1 over Skyfall Sena and race favorite HP Sissy on Sunday (June 11) at the Hippodrome 3R.
The fifth race co-feature for mares saw Jones, the son of top horseman, Dustin Jones, leave with Imagine Speed, but also on the move from the outside was HP Sissy and driver Stephane Brosseau. Brosseau and HP Sissy took command from Imagine Speed before the opening quarter mile in :28.
HP Sissy sat comfortably in front past the half mile marker in :58 and it was then that Skyfall Sena with Jonathan Lachance started up first-over but could not gain ground on the race leaders. Then, right at the three-quarters in 1:27.3, Jones pulled out from the pocket-trip with Imagine Speed and came after HP Sissy as Skyfall Sena found another gear and was three-wide going after the leaders.
It was a three-horse battle down the stretch as HP Sissy began to fade with Imagine Speed getting up at the wire by a neck over Skyfall Sena with HP Sissy third by only three-quarters of a length. The time of the race was 1:57.4.
It was the second win in just four starts this year for Imagine Speed. The 5-year-old mare by Ponder is trained by Michel Allard of Saint-Esprit, who co-owns Imagine Speed with Michel Lefebvre. She paid $33.90 to win.
The eighth race was the horse division of the Quebec-bred Series first round. It was Cyclone Joe (Sylvain Lacaille) shooting to the early lead with Noplay (Melanie Plourde) following in second place.
As they went around the first turn, Cyclone Joe went off-stride and then Noplay did the same. That allowed C L Sportaction and driver Jonathan Lachance to inherit the lead and they never gave it up.
With Majo Lou Beka (Mario Lachance) sitting right on their back, C L Sportsaction led to the quarter in :28.3 and the half mile in :58.4 before the race favorite, Dance With Joe (Richard Simard), who was going for his fourth straight win, came first-over.
Down the backstretch as Dance With Joe tried to gain ground, Lachance pulled away a little more with C L Sportsaction. Past the three-quarters in 1:27, Dance With Joe could not longer keep up and C L Sportsaction went on to win by 1-1/2 lengths over Majo Lou Beka with Dance With Joe third.
Wildriverbumblebee (Stephane Brosseau) was making his 2018 debut, but never got into the hunt and finished sixth.
For C L Sportsaction, a 4-year-old gelded son of Sportswriter, it was his third win in six starts this year for trainer Mario Lachance and the C Leblanc Stable of Saint-Eustache, who also bred C L Sportsaction. He paid $5.80 to win.
The Quebec-bred Series continues with two more legs and then on Thursday (Aug. 9) will be the C$30,000 finals for both the pacers and trotters.
TRACK NOTES: Not one trainer or driver on the ten race program Sunday were able to score more than one win. On Tuesday night at H3R the trotters start the Quebec-bred Series with two divisions. The mares are headlined by Y S Suzanne, HP Run Like Mom and Lucky Promesses. The horses feature Holiday Party taking on Kinnder Dangerous and Capteur De Reve. Post time Tuesday is 6:30 pm. For more information and a free race program, visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.