“IF at first you don’t succeed try, try again,” would seem to be the message arising out of the 2022 ZE Turf Prix d’Amerique.
Davidson Du Pont who was second in the 2020 and 2021 editions came with a late surge to narrowly beat the fancied Galius in the world championship for aged trotters.
The 21-year-old Nicolas Bazire became the youngest driver to win the great race in its 101-year existence.
Nicolas Bazire is the son of the current top man in French trotting, Jean Michel Bazire, who has driven 6,500 winners and won four Prix d’Ameriques as a driver.
As Joseph O’Brien showed on the flat, being the son of a legend can be a fast track to some top-class horses, but at the same time both the public and the press may be cruel when things go wrong.
There is no easy way to say it: the driver knocked the horse off his legs in the Prix de Belgique on January 16th. That race was good for making conversation with security staff, pundits, and punters over the weekend. Not one person was willing to defend the drive the horse received.
The talk around Vincennes was that Bazire senior was very annoyed after the Belgique. In last week’s review we mentioned that JMB gave an exaggerated shrug to the crowd as he trotted past the galloping Davidson Du Pont on the day.
Looking at the hard facts Davidson Du Pont was a worthy second favourite for Sunday’s race behind the up-and-coming Etonnant (French word for ‘surprising’, as it happens).
Error of judgement
The bare form stated that Davidson Du Pont had been second to Face Time Bourbon in 2020 and 2021 and it was only Nicolas Bazire’s error of judgement which prevented the ‘turfistes’ of Paris from making them outright favourites.
In the Prix de Belgique, Nicolas and ‘Davidson’ as he is affectionately known around Vincennes, were left in front with 500 metres to go.
On Sunday, the race unfolded differently as the 9/1 shot Galius looked all over the winner at the famous intersection between the ‘grand piste’ and the ‘petite piste’.
This time the young driver kept a firmer hold of his horse or maybe Davidson Du Pont is better with something to chase. I for one was worried that the nine-year-old would break once again under pressure, but this time he stayed level.
After a tough battle, Davidson Du Pont prevailed by a short head to pick up €450,000 first prize. The winner paid €5.10 on the PMU. €29.4 million was wagered throughout Europe.
The marketing team at LeTROT works extremely hard at promoting the event (see accompanying article). They are having a good run with strong story lines in recent years. Since 2012 Ready Cash has dominated the event, winning it twice as a racehorse and siring five winners between Readly Express, Bold Eagle and Face Time Bourbon. Add in the ‘ballerina’ Bellina Josselyn in 2019 and the race has been an easy sell.
The marketeers will be rubbing their hands this week. The publicists got a win by the scion of the family just when the public were getting used to seeing his father’s weathered looking features in every form of media.
Emotional victory
The winning horse was runner-up twice in the race, that’s always an emotional victory. Of course, the youngest ever winning driver is a hook as well.
The iconic photo of the 2022 Prix d’Amerique was of father and son in a long slow handshake as they drove Davidson and Feydeau Seven (finished 10th) back to the enclosures.
Nicolas Bazire unsurprisingly said: “This is the greatest day of my life.” He added: “I was not sure we had won. The horse deserves the credit not me.”
The normally stony-faced Jean Michel Bazire allowed himself a few tears while Nicolas’ grandfather Jean-Yves Rayon cried the proverbial river.
With ‘La Marseillaise’ blasting out over the PA and the winning connections singing hand-on-heart, the occasion would stir even the most cynical of travellers.
Jean-Yves Rayon said: “My grandson winning this race, it doesn’t get any better, it’s our Holy Grail.” He also owns the winner.
Galius at six is relatively young for a French Trotter. Popular driver Yohann Lebourgeois has yet to lift the coveted trophy but was gracious in defeat. “I’d have preferred to have been beaten two lengths,” was his comment. “I followed Etonnant for too long, but we have no regrets.”
The only female trainer in the line -up, Séverine Raimond said: “Galius will be more mature next year.”
The third-placed mare Flamme du Goutier (Theo Duvaldestin) won the world’s top race for trotters under saddle a fortnight ago and Sunday’s result proves her adaptability.
THE 2022 edition of the ZE Turf Prix d’Amerique was supposed to be a toned-down version even though Europe is climbing out of the wreckage of Covid. The locals predict that the big party at Vincennes will be the Prix de France meeting on February 13th.
The crowd, normally over 30,000 was limited to 5,000. However, if this was a small party then I wouldn’t mind gate crashing the big bash.
In previous years, LeTROT has laid on displays of Harley Davidson motorbikes, mock gun battles between mounted Cowboys and Indians, with clowns on stilts and all the trappings. Obviously, the French Government told the trotting people to keep it calm, but boy, did they come up with a clever alternative?
The Master of Ceremonies at Vincennes is Laurent Bruneteau (53). If you dislike incessant chatter between races then the PDA is not the meeting for you. Perhaps it’s the American influence but trotting comperes as a rule, are louder than those at a thoroughbred meeting.
That much said, Bruneteau makes the Irish and British anchor-men look like non-triers. “Vincennes, faîtes du bruit” (Vincennes, make some noise!) seems to be his catch phrase and the local trotting fans were happy to assist.
The normal 30-minute gap between races was extended to an hour and a half between the third and fourth race.
Helicopter
Firstly, all eyes were on the big screen as it showed a live link to a helicopter a few miles away from the track. Apprehensive-looking men (part of the act? in combat gear seemed ready to jump out of the chopper but decided to have a video call with Laurent in the stadium first.
It turns out they were delivering the trophy. After saying goodbye to our compere, the bold parachutists leapt out the side door and descended to the track.
Three parachutes and flags were unfurled, the Stars and Stripes, the French tricolour, and the logo of the race. The three parachutists all landed exactly at the finish line, which impressed your correspondent as he had struggled to get on the escalators of the Metro.
Following that, we had a 20-minute musical ride with the troopers and the band of the Republic Guards and the playing of the national anthem.
Once the army retreated, the 18 drivers of the big race were introduced to the crowd and paraded down the track with the names of their horses on large lollipop sticks carried by young assistants.
The two Bazires, Franck Nivard and Anthony Barrier got the biggest cheer from the crowd. The two Italian drivers and the Swede Bjorn Goop looked to be cool but were concentrating like Formula One drivers on the grid.
Junior Guelpa who was to drive his own 60/1 shot Bahia Quesnot stole the show with a great piece of clowning. To top it all off, former winner Bold Eagle was paraded, driven by his lad. The pre-race ceremonies were fantastic and will get better when the shadow of Covid passes.