Trois Rivieres: Consolation race added to Prix d'Ete
The Quebec Jockey Club has announced that the 2020 edition, the seventh revival of the $200,000 Prix d’Ete Pace, will now feature a $50,000 consolation race the same day for those horses entered that did not make it into the final.
Anyone with a promising 4-year-old pacer, nominations for the 2020 $200,000 Prix D’Ete at the Hippodrome 3R must be postmarked by Sunday, March 15.
One of only a handful of opportunities restricted to just 4-year-old pacers, the Prix D’Ete is the showcase stakes event of the season at the Hippodrome 3R and will take place on Sunday, August 23 in 2020.
“Management at the Quebec Jockey Club added the $50,000 consolation race after we had so many entries for the final last year,” said Murielle Thomassin, General Manager at H3R. “We had 16 horses entered and only eight get into the final. Now, provided we have that many entries again this year, there will be the $50,000 consolation race. And the consolation race can feature up to nine starters.”
Continued from 2018 in the conditions for the race is that horses that finish 6th through 8th will each get $1,000. Only the top eight money winners this season, up until time of entry, will be allowed in the Prix d’Ete final.
To make nomination payments, owner/trainers can go to www.standardbredcanada.ca or to www.quebecjockeyclub.com and get the necessary nomination forms.
Please note there are no supplemental payments allowed for the Prix d’Ete. This first nomination payment must be made to be eligible.
The Prix D’Ete, once the richest and most prestigious race in Canada, was revived by the Quebec Jockey Club back in 2013.
The inaugural revival saw Jimmy Takter’s Sunfire Blue Chip set the all-age Canadian and track record at 3R in 1:50 3/5. That record was tied the following year with All Bet’s Off scoring for the Ron Burke Stable.
Then Harness Horse of the Year, Wiggle It Jiggleit, came to 3R for Team Teague in 2016, only to come up second best to the Burke’s Stable’s Rockin Ron in a classic battle over a sloppy track in 1:52.
In 2017 it was the Jimmy Takter Stable winning the Prix d’Ete for the second time as Western Fame and driver Trevor Henry wired the field in 1:53 2/5. Then in 2018, Ricky and Jamie Macomber stole the show in an upset with their pacer Beckhams Z Tam in 1:52 1/5.
Records were made to be broken and in 2019 that happened in the Prix d’Ete. Ron Burke’s This Is The Plan with Daniel Dube driving, led from start to finish and rewrote the all-age half mile Canadian, Prix d’Ete and track record at H3R with an amazing 1:49 1/5 triumph.
The 2020 40-day race season gets underway at the Hippodrome 3R on Sunday, May 2 with first race post time at 1:00 pm.
-edited release (Quebec Jockey Club)