Trois-Rivieres, QC — R Rkadabra, who had not been able to go gate-to-wire in his last four harness racing starts, was able to return to winning form, holding off Jamigo to win the Preferred Trot at the Hippodrome 3R Sunday afternoon.

The sixth race feature saw R Rkadabra and driver Pierre Luc Roy shootout to the early lead by five lengths. Holiday Party (Pascal Berube) was the race favorite and got away in second place as R Rkadabra cut a :28.1 opening quarter-mile.

R Kadabra and Roy were in easy command of the race approaching the half-mile mark as Daniel Laflamme came first-over with Jamigo into a half in :59.2.

R Rkadabra holds off an onslaught of challengers to win the Preferred Trot. Thephotodesk.ca photo.

Jamigo and Laflamme kept inching their way towards R Rkadabra at the three-quarters in 1:30.1. R Kadabra and Roy were now hard pressed by Jamigo as Holiday Party and Pascal Berube came three-wide to mount a challenge.

Once starting down the stretch it looked as if Jamigo would be able to catch and beat R Rkadabra, but that was not happening today as R Rkadabra kicked in another gear and held off Jamigo by a neck in 2:02. Holiday Party was third.

It was the fifth win on the year for R Rkadabra, a ten-year-old gelding by Kadabra, who is trained by Isabelle Binet and is owned by Gestion Marc Lemay, Inc. of Quebec City and he paid $13.60 to win.

The long shot of the day came in the 8th race pace when Clever Thing and driver Tyler Jones was able to grind it out first-over against Allstar Seelster (Stephane Brosseau) and then held off D J Power (Pierre Luc Roy) to win by a half-length in 1:58.1.

Sent off at odds of 16-1, Clever Thing paid $34.70 to win in posting his tenth win of the year for trainer Francis Guillemette. Jones and Gullemette co-own the eight-year-old gelding by Stonebridge Regal.

Starting next week at H3R the drivers will forgo their whips as the last two days of the race season will be raced without whips. First race post time is 12:50 pm. For more information, visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.