Jean-Philippe Lacasse celebrates his first ever race victory in his 20-year career. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D’Andrea

Making history at the dog races

Quebec’s Lacasse secures first sled dog win in 20-year career at P.A. Winter Festival

Feb 28, 2022 | 5:35 AM

Even though he’s been sled dog racing for over 20 years, and traveled all over to wherever there’s snow and open space, Jean-Philippe Lacasse of Gaspé, Que., had never finished with a gold medal finish in a race.

That all changed on Sunday as Lacasse won the second heat of the weekend, and after Saturday’s second-place finish, Lacasse was named as the weekend’s overall winner in the ten-dog race.

As he crossed the finish line, Lacasse was visibly excited. He even shouted to anyone who would listen that it was his first victory.

“Man, I’m very happy to win today,” Lacasse said as he laughed. “My family and my friends texted me yesterday night, ‘good luck and hope you finish in the top one.’ It’s so nice.”

Although he finished near the top of the leaderboard on Saturday, Lacasse recognized some room for improvement. He made a slight adjustment with his lead dogs, Slam and Stick, getting them to trade sides.

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Jean-Philippe Lacasse celebrates his first ever race victory in his 20-year career. (Jeff D’Andrea/paNOW Staff)

After the race, Lacasse opened Slam’s door in his room in Lacasse’s travel trailer, and gave his lead dog some congratulatory pets.

“I think this is my best dog ever,” Lacasse said.

Lacasse has raced in different formats over the years, like the open format which spaces out each team by two minutes, or the mass start like how the winter festival race ran. Lacasse said he much prefers the mass start.

“With the mass starts, I have all the time with the people, the teams on the side, on the left, on the right,” Lacasse said. “You pause the team, stop to fix the team, and after this, you go. It’s very exciting. I love coming here for the mass start.”

The competition was tight and fierce throughout the weekend. (Jeff D’Andrea/paNOW Staff)

Carl Knudson was Lacasse’s biggest challenger throughout the weekend. Knudson finished Saturday’s race in first place just edging out Lacasse, but finished 20 seconds behind Lacasse in the final two-day time.

Rachel Courtney finished in third place.

In the six-dog race, Tony Pratte finished in first with Carl Knudson coming in second and Mandy Johnson getting third.

Mandy Johnson won the four-dog race with Tommy McGunigal and Jessica Joyal rounding out the top three.

In the junior divisions, Elan Johnson won the three-dog race and Bode Johnson won the one-dog race.

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Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW