Eleven year-old thoroughbred, Edmund Hanover, took advantage of his experience on the Ormstown track to win the main event at the races that were held last Saturday: the Prix du Suroît, a $2500 prize.
Owned by Daniel Dulude, from Sainte-Martine, Edmund Hanover won the exhilarating event in a time of 2:04.2, narrowly outstripping his two closest rivals, OK Diablo and Not This Time, by a mere 0.8 seconds. For veteran driver, Gaétan Lamy, from Rivière-Beaudette, this meant a third win in five starts at the Ormstown track.
Edmund Hanover, however, did not succeed in breaking the record, which holds at 2:02.1.
The nine trotting and pacing events were presented by the Circuit régional des courses de chevaux du Québec, with around $14, 000 in prizes at stake for the occasion.
A familiar voice
Jean Désautels, the legendary voice from Blue Bonnets race track, was there to call the various races in last Saturday’s program. For a good 30 years, he called no less than 58,000 races before Blue Bonnets closed its doors in 2008, leaving him no choice but to retire.
Désautels said he was delighted to be back behind the microphone.
Several records broken
Ormstown race track was particularly fast this year with the broken records on Saturday as proof. This is thanks to all the hard work by Maurice Paquette who has groomed this track for several years now.
The first shattered record was in pacing by Whitemountain Némo, driven by his owner, Denis Pelletier from Sherbrooke. The best time for a pacer in Ormstsown is now 2:02.0.
The record for the trotter gait was lowered on two occasions. First, by a horse from Gatineau called Keystone Bounty in 2:04.1. Then, during the 8th race, Pablo Angus from Stanbridge East, driven by the excellent Mario Charron, cut a fifth of a second off the trot record for a new record of 2:04.1
It’s worth noting that driver Mario Charron finished the day with a record of 3 wins and 4 second places in 6 drives.
To conclude, the organisers, with Chris Rember in charge, are pleased to announce that betting was up 10% from last year. This is good news knowing that the revenue from this day of harness racing will be used to renovate the buildings on the Ormstown Fairgrounds.
The competition and betting took place under the supervision of the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux du Québec (RACJ) – the Quebec Alchohol, Racing and Gaming Control Board as well as the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency (CPMA).
After the Ormstown event, the Circuit régional will be heading to Charlevoix/Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs (August 15), Ayers’ Cliff (August 29) and Brome (September 7).
