The trotters will claim the stage at the Hippodrome 3R on Tuesday night (July 5), as the opening round of the Breeders Cup for three-year-old colts and fillies will be the feature.
There will be four weeks of preliminary-leg competition. The top eight point earners from each division will return on Sunday, September 4 for their respective $65,000 finals.
On Tuesday, the colts will start the stakes action in Race 3, which will feature the track record holder – and last year’s two-year-old champion – Wildwild Men, who is trained by Isabelle Darveau and is driven by Robert Shepherd.
Last year, Wildwild Men tore up the 3R half mile oval, as he swept the Quebec-Bred Series and set a track record of 1:58.2 in finale. Wildwild Men ended 2015 with five wins and one second-place finish in nine starts. He will start from Post 6 on Tuesday.
Wildwild Men is co-owned by Catheline Pelletier of Mirabel along with breeder Chantal Gravel of St-Cyrille-De-Wendover, QC. Wildwild Men, who is a son of Muscle Mass, has not gotten off to the greatest of starts this year. He is winless in four tries, although he did initially win in 2:00.1 at Grand River Raceway before being placed back to sixth by the judges.
Wildwild Men will be put to the test on Tuesday, as he will have to face some stiff competition in KFB Amigo Cool (Post 5), who will ship in after having recently competed in the Ontario Sires Stakes at Georgian Downs, where he finished second. Skyflex (Post 4) will invade from Rideau Carlton Raceway where he has been first or second in seven of his 11 starts this year, the fastest being a 2:00.1 triumph.
Between the fifth and sixth race is a non-wagering second division for the colts. The race was taken off the betting card due to the entry from the Dany Fontaine Stable of Andovers Choice and Holiday Party.
Holiday Party will start from Post 4 for driver Pascal Berube. He will ship in from Georgian Downs where last week he won an $18,000 division of the OSS in 1:58. The start before, the gelded son of Holiday Road took his lifetime mark with a 1:57 triumph.
Andovers Choice will start from Post 2 for driver Guy Gagnon. He heads into 3R after having raced at Mohawk Racetrack, where he has been facing older rivals and has recorded two second-place finishes in both of his starts this year, the fastest timed in 1:57.1.
The fillies will do battle in the sixth race, where last year’s series champion, Y S Suzanne, will start from Post 4 for trainer/driver Carl Duguay. The daughter of Angus Hall was winless last year until her final start of the season when she won the $55,000 final. She is winless in three starts this year, but has been race-timed in 2:00.2-2:01 recently.
Other contenders in the field include Y A Jailhouse Jodi from Post 2, who has won her last two starts for trainer Michel Allard, Eau Naturelle (Post 5) and Éclair Chocolat (Post 6).
First-race post time on Tuesday evening will be 7 p.m.