There were two divisions of the series for four and five-year-old mares and horses Tuesday. There are three weeks of preliminary action with the top eight money earners returning on June 25 for the $30,000 finals.
Both race winners were very impressive with the fastest division going to track record holder, Wildwild Men, in the fifth race for older horses.
Driven by Robert Shepherd from post three, Wildwild Men shot to the early lead with KFM Amigo Cool (Stephane Brosseau) grabbing the two-hole spot to the opening quarter mile in :29.1.
Second choice in the race, track record holder Holiday Party (Pascal Berube) made a costly break at the start of the race.
To the half mile in :59.3 and the three-quarters in 1:29.3, Shepherd then let Wildwild Men pull away in the stretch to win with ease by three and one-half lengths in 1:58.3. KFB Amigo Cool was second with stablemate, Seeyou Men (full older brother to Wildwild Men) third for driver Guy Gagnon.
It was the first win in three starts this year for Wildwild Men. The four-year-old gelded son of Muscle Mass is trained by Isabelle Darveau for breeder Chantal Gravel, who co-owns the winner with Catheline Pelletier. He paid $2.70 to win.
In the second race division for mares, it was all Y S Suzanne for driver Stephane Gendron.
With EAU Naturelle (Simon Delisle) leaving from post seven to the early lead, Shepherd wasted no time retaking the lead before the opening quarter mile and then held the field at bay the rest of the one mile race, winning by four and one-half lengths in 2:00.4.
Y A Jailhouse Jodi (Guy Gagnon) was second with Grace And Claire (Sylvain Lacaille) third.
Trained and owned by Carl Duguay, it was the third straight win and fifth victory on the season for Y S Suzanne. The four-year-old mare by Angus Hall paid just $2.50 to win.
With his victory aboard Y S Suzanne, driver Stephane Gendron moved within one victory of scoring his 4,000th career win.
Driver Richard Simard led all drivers Tuesday with three winners on the night including an impressive seven and one-half length romp with Raising Richard ($2.80) in the Invitational Trot in 1:59.1.
The post-position draw for the second annual All-Star Drivers Tournament at H3R this Sunday takes place Wednesday afternoon. Featured will be Yannick Gingras, Daniel Dube, Scott Zeron, Sylvain Filion, Hall of Famer David Miller, last year’s champion Jody Jamieson, Stephane Bouchard and H3R leading driver, Louis-Philippe Roy, all competing in eight races.
There will be a special meet and greet autograph session with all the drivers at 11:30 a.m. And H3R’s new post time of 12:30 p.m. goes into effect on Sunday.