Trois Rivieres: Live racing to begin June 24

The Quebec Jockey Club has received approval from the Quebec Racing Commission to begin spectator-less harness racing on Wednesday, June 24, which is National Quebec Day in the province.

The regular season will feature Sunday afternoon racing at 1:00 pm every Sunday through November 8. The special Wednesday opening day race program will have a 4:00 pm first race post time. Then the schedule will return to Friday afternoon racing through October 9, also with a 4:00 pm post time.

"With qualifying races being held on Wednesday (tomorrow) and Saturday," explained Murielle Thomassin, Director of Racing at H3R. "We should have more than enough horses to fill our first race program. Plus, horse people competing at Rideau Carleton will want to come back to H3R. We want to showcase our races during the week at 4:00 pm so fans can see our product before the start of the Mohawk Park program."

Both Stephane Brosseau and Francis Richard, the leading driver and trainer respectively at H3R for the past three seasons, will both be in action at the qualifiers Wednesday.

"We have all our Covid-19 protocols in place for tomorrow morning," Thomassin added. "And all our horse people are prepared to handle the necessary procedures for safe distancing while in the race paddock."

The Quebec-Bred race series for two, three-year-old and older horses will still take place and those revised dates will be released soon.

For more information go to www.hippodrome3r.ca.

-edited release (Quebec Jockey Club)