Hippodrome 3R: This Is The Plan breaks Canadian record in Prix d'Ete

It was a historic edition of the C$200,000 Prix d'Été for 4-year-old male pacers on Sunday afternoon at Hippodrome 3R in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, as This Is The Plan turned in the fastest clocking ever on a half-mile track in Canada, taking the race in 1:49 1/5.

With Trois-Rivières native Daniel Dube coming in to drive, This Is The Plan left hard and took advantage of a break before the start by pole-sitter Hitman Hill (Jonathan Drury) to get to the lead in front of Ron Burke stablemate Done Well (Bob McClure). This Is The Plan would go on to hit the opening quarter in 26 2/5 with Jimmy Freight (Louis-Philippe Roy) coming first-over from fourth past that point, giving cover to The Downtown Bus (Doug McNair).

Jimmy Freight was still over a length behind The Is The Plan at the 54 4/5 half, and although he gained a little bit more around the third turn and into the backstretch, his advance had stalled as This Is The Plan ripped through three-quarters in 1:21 2/5. Around the far turn This Is The Plan gained some separation on the rest of the field, and he would go on to prevail by 2 1/2 lengths over The Downtown Bus. Jimmy Freight wound up third, Done Well was fourth, and Casimir Richie P (Sylvain Filion) came in fifth.

The 1:49 1/5 clocking lowered the previous Canadian record on a half-mile track of 1:49 2/5 that had belonged to Somebeachsomewhere in the final of the 2008 Confederation Cup at Flamboro Downs.

For Dube, he's won some major races in his career, including the Little Brown Jug, Meadowlands Pace, and North America Cup, but he was obviously thrilled to have won his hometown's biggest race.

"It's a good race for me, and I'm happy for that. 49, that's great; he's a very nice horse. I don't know how to explain that," he said. "That was my plan - going out of there and just keep going.

"I know (Jimmy Freight) is a nice little horse; I've raced against that horse with Western Fame, and Western Fame is awesome and this one, a couple times he went by me. You need a good horse to go around that one, too."

Burke trains This Is The Plan, a gelded son of Somebeachsomewhere, for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC., Weaver Bruscemi LLC., J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby, and Larry Karr. This Is The Plan picked up his ninth career win, and he has now earned C$1,305,410. Racing as part of an entry that was sent off at 6-5, This Is The Plan paid $4.60 to win.

This was the third time in six editions of the rebooted Prix d'Été that Burke was the winning trainer, joining victories with All Bets Off in 2015 and Rockin Ron in 2016.

"We've been really fortunate to be able to come up here with some good horses, and the miles have gone our way. I've got to say it's been a great time," said assistant trainer Mickey Burke Jr. "Once it got all set up like that, and Hitman Hill ran inside, I was like as long as nobody gets hurt or anything, we're all good. The horse responded perfect to Daniel.

"(The time) shocked me even. I was looking at the records last night because All Bets Off is one of the co-holders of it, and I was thinking I think that's going to stick around for a little while. Shows how much I know. He raced a great mile. Horses were coming at him the whole time, and he responded to it and went forward. I can't say enough about the horse."