by harness racing publicists across North America

Sunday’s (May 28) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Saratoga Raceway, Hippodrome 3R, Clinton Raceway and Dresden Raceway.

On The Podium wins at the Spa

Saratoga, NY — On The Podium (Donato Hanover) went coast-to-coast in the Sunday (May 28) feature at Saratoga Casino Hotel.

Melissa Simser-Iovino photo

On The Podium led from gate-to-wire to win the featured event at Saratoga on Sunday afternoon.

The Al Annunziata trained trotter moved out to the early lead in the $15,000 Winners Over and never looked back. After getting a first half in :57.2, On The Podium didn’t face any real pressure until the final turn when pocket sitter Cincinnati Miss (Frank Coppola Jr.) came out of the two-hole to challenge.

Those two trotters stepped away from their rivals before On The Podium reached the wire first in 1:55.4 for his third victory of the season. The race’s lone lady Cincinnati Miss came up second best while Lucid Thoughts (John Macdonald) kept his on the board streak alive by closing for third.

On The Podium returned $13.40 to win while pulling off the mild upset. Aldrich has rebounded well after a scary spill on Friday night. The 2015 leading driver at Saratoga piloted three winners on Saturday evening, two for Annunziata, and followed it up with a victory in the Sunday matinee’s feature.

Live racing continues on Monday afternoon with a Memorial Day matinee card set to kick off at 12:15 p.m.

— by Mike Sardella

Hippodrome 3R

Trois-Rivieres, PQ — Both Half A Billion and HP Sissy enjoyed the driving services of Louis-Philippe Roy in winning their respective divisions of the Quebec bred Series Sunday (May 28) at the Hippodrome 3R. With plenty of sunshine and warmer weather, the track was lightning fast and it showed on the teletimer. Roy and Half A Billion started off the show in the fifth race Quebec bred Series third leg for 4-and 5-year-old pacing horses. It was Mach On The Beach and driver Pascal Berube first to the show from the rail with Sports Authority (Pierre-Luc Roy) leaving and getting the two-hole tuck to the opening quarter mile in :28. But that lead was soon gone as Roy wasted little time moving first-over with Half A Billion, taking the lead at the half mile marker in :56.3, then holding the field at bay to the three-quarters in 1:24.4. He then opened it up in the stretch, winning with ease by 6-1/2 open lengths in 1:53.1.
Sports Authority was able to come on for second place with Mach On The Beach third. Sent off as the overwhelming favorite, Half A Billion paid $2.70 to win. It was the third straight win and fourth victory on the year for the 5-year-old gelding by Sportswriter. He is trained by Francis Richard for co-owners Michel & Francois Letarte, Jean Allaire and Corey Giles. His time of 1:53.1 was his fastest win ever on a half-mile track and the fastest mile of the season at H3R. It was nearly a repeat performance for Roy in the 8th race mare’s division of the Quebec-bred Series. HP Pandora and driver Stephane Brosseau went out to the early lead with stablemate HP Sissy stalking on the outside and then shooting to the lead in a speedy opening quarter-mile in :27. HP Sissy and Roy were then content to lead the field to the half-mile in :55.4 and then in the backstretch, Roy kicked out the ear plugs and HP Sissy started to open up on the field to the three-quarters in 1:25.1 and won with ease in 1:54.4 by 1-3/4 lengths. Wanda Bayama (Yves Filion) was a game second with Art De Gagnee (Pierre-Luc Roy) third.
The time of the mile was just three-fifths of a second off of the track record of 1:54.1 for older mares held by My Tallia Ideal in 2015. It was the third straight win and fourth triumph this year for HP Sissy. The 4-year-old daughter of Up The Credit is trained by Jean Tourigny for breeder Claude Hamel, who owns the mare with Michel Damphousse. Now the top eight money winners in the series will return on Sunday (June 11) for the C$30,000 Quebec Series finales for the mares and horses. For Louis-Philippe Roy, it was not a track record-setting day for dash wins like two weeks ago, but he still scored three winners on the afternoon to lead all drivers on the day and retain his lead in the driver’s standings.
TRACK NOTES: For the second straight week, driver Jocelyn Gendron has brought in the highest priced winner of the season. Last week it was Northern Trophy paying $69.10. Sunday Gendron scored in the second race pace with 34-1 Whitemountainheart, who paid $70.80 to win. Driver Stephane Gendron had two winners on the program, including the ninth race Invitational Pace with Ufdragons Rocket and is now only two wins away from scoring his 4,000th career victory. H3R begins night live racing this Tuesday (May 30) with first race post time at 7:00 p.m. The first night program is headlined by the opening round of the Quebec bred Series for 4-and 5-year-old trotters. There are two divisions headlined by track record holder and prior champions Wildwild Men, Seeyou Men, Holiday Party and in the mare’s division, Y S Suzanne, SOS Revange and Y A Jailhouse Jody. Next Sunday (June 4), is the second annual All-Star Drivers Tournament at H3R featuring last year’s inaugural winner, Jody Jamieson, Hall of Famer David Miller, H3R’s leading driver this and last season, Louis-Philippe Roy, Yannick Gingras, Daniel Dube, Sylvain Filion, Stephane Bouchard and Scott Zeron, all competing in eight tournament races.

Clinton Raceway

Clinton, ON — After a damp start to the 2017 season at Clinton Raceway last Sunday, the sunny skies known to the fans returned for the second race card this Sunday (May 28). Post position four dominated the opening day card, winning six out of the nine races, three of those coming in the first three races of the day. Each race had a finisher from that post in the top three. The trend continued into this Sunday with horses from that post winning five of the nine races. One of those post position four wins came from Black Jack Killean in race five and just so happened to be the 1,000th career training win for Scott McNiven. Driver Travis Henry steered the 5-year-old gelding in a gate-to-wire victory in a time of 2:00.4, paying $13.30. The long-time trainer from Putnam, Ont., trains out of the Dorchester Fair Grounds and has accumulated over $8 million in purse earnings. Racing Under Saddle was track ide, holding a fundraiser for their 2017 season. Fans were treated to a BBQ, Bake Sale, and the winner of the 50/50 draw took home just over C$500.The group was able to raise just under the C$1500 mark. Next week, the Clinton Spring Fair moves into town, resulting in a break in the harness season. Live racing will resume Sunday (June 11) with a post time of 1:30 p.m. details can be found at clintonraceway.com.

Dresden Raceway

Dresden, ON — Fourteen-year-old trotter Weskey went to the front and never looked back today at Dresden Raceway for owner/trainer/driver Tyler Borth of Ingersoll. The veteran Wesgate Crown gelding, that is co-owned by Borth’s father Bill, cruised to the win cutting easy fractions of :31, 1:02.2, 1:33 and a winning time of 2:02.4. Weskey has now won 52 races lifetime and has banked almost C$303,000 over his career. Borth, Andy Moore and Lorne House each had driving doubles as Borth also guided Rye N Clyne to the winner’s circle while Moore won with Big Is Better and Gorgiouseverytime and House won with Evil Cam Evil and Finale Seelster. Gorgiouseverytime was the longest shot of the day rolling across the wire at 18-1 for a $37.10 payout. The Opening Day crowd of almost 600 people bet C$19,905 on nine races. Next Sunday afternoon is B.I.A. Day at the Races with every race being sponsored by local businesses and a slew of prizes set for giveaway.