by the Quebec Jockey Club

Trois-Rivieres, PQ — This Sunday (Nov. 13) is closing day for the 2016 live harness racing season at the Hippodrome 3R and the first 1,000 fans to come to the racetrack will receive a free race program. There will be a special autograph session beginning at 12:00 p.m. noon in the grandstand with the season’s leading driver, Louis-Philippe Roy.

Roy, who leads all drivers with 58 wins, 30 more than nearest rival, Stephane Gendron, will be posting his first ever driving title at the Hippodrome 3R. He is also the current leading driver at Rideau Carlton Raceway, leading 123 to 113 over Guy Gagnon. Within the next month, Roy will be leaving Quebec to take on the top drivers in harness racing at the Meadowlands and Yonkers Raceway.

Also, to be honored as the meets top trainer, will be Yves Tessier. He has sent out 24 winners already this season at 3R and has three race favorites going Sunday. Tessier holds a four-win lead over defending champion, Maxime Velaye, who does not have any horses entered.

The race season’s winningest horse, Beach Runner AM, did not get in to race on Sunday. The 9-year-old gelded son of Beach Of Faith led all horses at 3R this year with seven wins for owner/breeder/trainer, Alain Martin.

There are two 14-year-old horses, Pablo Angus and Charlottes Tazman, who will be honored after they race on Sunday as they must retire from racing at the end of the season.

Pablo Angus starts from post one in the fourth race trot. This longtime veteran of the racing wars is sired by Fortuna Winner from the Garland Lobell mare, Heliante. He was bred by the Fermes Angus Farms and is owned by Mario Bourgea. He is one of the best trotters ever bred in Quebec. A career winner of C$818,595, Pablo Angus give true meaning to the phrase “war horse” as he has raced every year of his career. The only season he did not win a race was in 2011 when he made just one start.

At ages two, three and four, Pablo Angus was a major stakes winner, mainly at his home track, the Hippodrome de Montreal, where at age four he took his lifetime mark of 1:53.2. Then at ages five, six and seven he traveled to New York where he won in the Open Trots numerous times at both Yonkers and Saratoga Raceways.

Trained by Gerald Woodberry and driven by Pascal Berube, Pablo Angus is a mild 4-1 odds in his race on Sunday. The old veteran can still show his heels to his much younger rivals and might surprise on Sunday. He was a track record holder at 3R and still holds many track records on the Quebec Regional Fair Circuit.

Charlotte’s Tazman has not had as big a career at the races as Pablo Angus has. The gelded son of Largo from the Big Towner mare, Tasmania Hanover, does boast career earnings of over C$112,835 and has a lifetime mark of 1:53.4. He was bred by Alfred Moeller and is owned by Daniel Cochrane.

Charlotte’s Tazman raced every year but 2011 during his career. He has grind it out every season and took his record at age three, winning eight times that year in his lone season in the USA at Rockingham Park. He raced most of his career in Canada.

Trained by Michel Grenier and with Pierre Luc Roy in the sulky on Sunday, Charlotte’s Tazman will go from the rail in the fifth race. He is the second choice in the race at odds of 3-1.

The eighth race is honoring Quebec horseman, Wellie Bélanger, whose passion for racing transcended seven decades. He passed away on Oct. 25 at age 96.

It was at the age of twenty that Mr. Bélanger acquired his first horses, the first of a long list to date with DGs Mach Beach and EF Gaspesien. He was quick to want to involve himself in the races by driving his horses. By age 25 he was already a Ford Dealer, unheard of for someone so young. He would later own his own breeding farm in St-Eustache in the north of Montreal. This farm was later acquired by the Mathers family.

Great horses marked this illustrious career including Wizard Almahurst, Buzzeo, and the great trotter, Napoletano, whom he had found with Albert Bertrand, resold and was later ceded to the Swedes for C$4 million.

Napoletano was an exceptional trotter, who had a great history, racing alongside the great Ourasi and Mack Lobell in the March of Dimes in 1988. Mr. Bélanger spent his winters in Florida, where he would race some Quebec horses and returned in the spring annually with new acquisitions. Another of his memorable habits was his annual pilgrimage to the Harrisburg Sale with his brother Robert.

His wife, Jeannette, described him as a man of great class (he would not abandon his tie under any circumstances), an honest man, charming, often funny. A gentleman who was a pleasure to be around. He is also survived by his children, Rodrigue, Denyse, Réjeanne, Steeve and Mauritius.

Post time Sunday is 1:30 p.m. For a free race program online, visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.