by Quebec Jockey Club

Trois-Rivieres, PQ — Both track record holders from last week, Makasi and Yaris Bayama, were able to repeat with victories in their respective divisions of the Future Stars Series at the Hippodrome 3R Sunday (Aug. 28).

It was the fourth and final week of competition in the series for two-year-old pacing colts and fillies. Now the top eight point earnings from the four legs will return on Sunday (Sept. 4) for their respective C$55,000 finals. Also that day will be the C$65,000 finals for the 3-year-old trotters and pacers. Next Sunday will be the richest day of the year at 3R with more than C$500,000 in total purses for their Super Sunday Finales Day with eight stakes races on the program.

thephotodesk.ca photo

Makasi captures the second consecutive contest of his young career on Sunday at Hippodrome 3R.

Makasi stole the show last week at 3R with his 1:55.2 triumph in the colt division of the Future Stars Series. That mile as the fastest ever in the history of the Hippodrome 3R for a 2-year-old. He did not have to go as fast this Sunday, but still was very impressive.

Leaving from post five in the eighth race colt division, driver Stephane Brosseau, handling the homebred son of Shanghai Phil for the first time, had little trouble getting the early lead and going to the opening quarter-mile in :28. They led to the half-mile in :57.4 with C L Sportsaction (Jonathan Lachance) sitting in second place and Mach Déjà vu (Pascal Berube) stuck first-over from the start of the race and Yogi Bayama (Yves Filion) second-over.

Then in the backstretch, the action heated up as driver Gaetan Lamy took Histoire Enchantee three-wide in the bold move and was able to clear into first-over against Makasi at the three-quarters in 1:27.1. That move woke up Brosseau, who just lifted the lines on Makasi, who started to scoot away from the field, and then held them at bay down the stretch, easing up at the wire to win by a half-length in 1:56.3. The 45-1 long shot, Majo Lou Beka (Mario Lachance) was able to close well for second place with Wildriverbumblebee (Louis-Philippe Roy) third.

It was the second straight win in just four lifetime starts for Makasi. He was bred and is owned by Tony Infilise’s Hudson Standardbred Stable and paid C$2.80 to win.

Yaris Bayama, who last week set the track record for 2-year-old pacing fillies, nearly rewrote her own record in the sixth race, which was the second division of the Future Stars Series for fillies.

Facing only three rivals after two late scratches in the race, Filion sent the daughter of Sportswriter right to the front. She then cut fractions of :29.1 and :59 to the half before she received a first-over challenge from Queen Elsa (Steeve Genois) with D G’s Elsa (Jonathan Lachance) sitting comfortably in second place behind Yaris Bayama. Past the three-quarters in 1:28.4, Yaris Bayama looked very comfortable as Queen Elsa was unable to gain any ground on the race leader. But as they came down the stretch, it became a horse race as Lachance urged D G’s Elsa to the passing lane and was gaining ground on Yaris Bayama. But the effort was not good enough, as Yaris Bayama kicked in a :28.1 last quarter mile to win by a half-length in 1:57. Queen Elsa was third. That time was just one-fifth of a second from Yaris Bayama’s track record mile last week.

It was the third straight win and fourth victory in six starts for Yaris Bayama. The Bayama Farms homebred filly paid just C$2.20 to win as the overwhelming 1-9 race favorite.

In the fourth race, first division of the Future Stars Series for fillies, HP Celina Shadow and driver Louis-Philippe Roy was able to sit a pocket-seat behind pacesetter Vee Breeze (Gastan Lamy) as race favorite, Chaleurs Melodie (Carl Duguay) made a costly and uncharacteristic break going for the lead on the first turn. Sitting patiently in second place after the opening quarter and then to the half-mile, Roy then made his move with HP Celina Shadow at the three-quarter mile marker. They raced as a tandem against Vee Breeze and Lamy around the the final turn. As they stared down the stretch, HP Celina Shadow started to pull away, winning by 3-3/4 lengths in 2:01.3. Vee Breeze was second with Loulou P V (Yves St Jacques) third.

It was the pari-mutuel maiden victory for HP Celina Shadow. The daughter of Shadow Play is trained by Jean Tourigny for breeder Claude Hamel, who co-owns the filly with Michel Damphousse. She paid C$5.90 to win.

TRACK NOTES: Louis-Philippe Roy, the leading driver at 3R this season, increased his lead towards the dash winning title with a driving quadruple Sunday. He now leads all drivers with 51 wins, 25 more than his nearest rival, Pascal Berube at 26 wins. Roy’s most impressive win on the day was in the 10th and final race on the card, a 1:54 lifetime mark with Terror Suspect.

Tuesday (Aug. 30) will be the final night racing card of the season at 3R. First race post time is 7:00 p.m. for the ten-race program.