Track record set at Hippodrome 3R opener

from the Quebec Jockey Club

Trois-Rivieres, PQ — The Hippodrome 3R opened its doors for their 40-day harness racing meet Sunday (May 4) and to kick off the race season the all-age track record holder, Duc Dorleans, set another track record in winning the featured pace.

Last year, Duc Dorleans, trained by Jacques Dupont and driven by Francis Picard, set the all-age track record at Hippodrome 3R in 1:52.4. On Sunday Duc Dorleans rewrote Montreal Phil’s track record of 1:53.4 by three-fifths of a second with a 1:53.1 romp by eight open lengths.

It was the third race Winners Over $25,000 pace for a purse of $5,460 that saw D Gs Woodstock (Denis St. Pierre) go right to the lead from the start and cut fractions of :27 to the opening quarter and :55 to the half. Onyx VA and driver Mario Charron had left but could not get a tuck as Picard kept the hole closed with Duc Dorleans. Charron had no choice but to try and get to the front but D Gs Woodstock and St. Pierre were not going to let them get by.

Then in the backstretch as Onyx VA began to tire, Picard came off the rail and not only went after D Gs Woodstock, but collared him and took the lead at the three-quarters in 1:24. With strong momentum Duc Dorleans just pulled away from the rest of the field to win with ease. Onyx VA was second with Pieraz (Sylvain Lacaille) third.

It was the first win in three starts this year for Duc Dorleans. The 4-year-old gelded son of Shanghai Phil won for the 13th time in his career, has lifetime earnings of $296,532 and is owned by the Quebec partnership of Gestion C Levesque 2005 Inc, Les Ecuries Dorleans Inc and Marie Helene Dupont.

The Hippodrome 3R is now open every Sunday with first race post time at 1 p.m. Tuesday evening racing begins May 27 with post time at 7 p.m.

For more information visit the Hippodrome 3R website at www.quebecjockeyclub.com.

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