Prix d’Amerique

“YOU’RE good kid, but while I’m around you’re only second best.”

Those were the memorable words uttered by Lancey Howard (played by Edward G Robinson) when he had just beaten the young pretender in the famous movie about poker, The Cincinnati Kid.

The swashbuckling Jean Michel Bazire, on Hooker Berry, once more stamped his authority on the ZE Turf Prix d’Amerique with his fifth victory in the classic last Sunday at Vincennes, Paris. The Cincinnati Kid in this instance is the younger driver Eric Raffin with 258 victories in 2022 to JMB’s 107.

However, in every sport there is a prize that everyone wants to win and the Prix d’Amerique is ‘The Holy Grail’ of European trotting. Unfortunately, Raffin’s mount on the day Horsy Dream faded when the race started in earnest.

Bazire was content to sit on the outside of the second and third tier of horses. For some strange reason French horses last longer on the outside than runners in American style racing.

Jean Michele hunted around until the field passed the intersection with 300 metres to go. A few taps with the reins and Hooker Berry pulled clear.

The consummate showman was celebrating a long way from the line. In the last 100 metres he managed to wave at the crowd, have an exaggerated look at the wheels of the sulky, blow a kiss, kick up his right leg and throw away his whip.

“Ç’a été facile,” as the locals would say.

In some jurisdictions such antics would be frowned upon but Bazire is very much on home soil, he loves the crowd and the crowd love his celebrations. He would go on to spray champagne like a Formula 1 driver.

The seven-year-old mare Ampia Mede (Frank Nivard) was an honourable second, trained by Sean Kane’s former boss Fabrice Souloy. Italiano Vero was third for driver David Thomain.

The Irish Field’s nap Hip Hop Haufor was only fourth which meant that the champagne remained in the cabinet.

Oisin Quill was the only Irish driver to name Hooker Berry out-and-out in the tipping article. They sleep with one eye open in Kenmare.

“I was concentrating on getting a clear run,” Bazire reflected after the race. “I knew I had it won in the home straight. With a crowd like today you like to put on a show.

“Hooker Berry is only a pony. He has never galloped in a race though.”

Reachy

The winner is an entire, as geldings are excluded. He is a chesnut with a nice reachy action, he covers more ground than the driver’s last winner of the blue riband, Bellina Josselyn. He wears blinkers and goes without a head check, the modern trend. He raced totally unshod, like the majority of the field.

Hooker Berry went off at 7.5 on the PMU or 13/2 in our money. He was bred by the owner M. Michel Aladenise

No doubt Eric Raffin will get his name on the roll of honour at some stage. For now it is Bazire who is once more the toast of the ‘turfistes’ on the plain of Vincennes.

One Parisian racegoer was heard to call him ‘Le Patron’ (the boss). Indeed, on Saturday’s card he also won the €100,000 Group III Prix de Luxembourg with the American-owned and bred Beads.

A representative of the owners Ed Magic KB said: “He was such a tough horse in the US we thought he would suit France. The win is a massive bonus because he’s already been great at home.”

The achievement by Beads should not be underestimated as the American and French styles of racing are contrasting, which means very few horses win on both continents.

M. Jean Pierre Barjon, president of Le TROT owned two winners on Saturday both driven by Alexander Abrivard. The Abrivard brothers are equally at home in the sulky or the saddle.

The European Amateurs Championship went to the Swiss driver Xavier Bovay. Mark Kane was our leading amateur in 2022 but did not accrue enough points to make the final line up.

There were no obvious Irish connections to horses over the two days. However, some Irish representatives were present at the UET (European Trotting Union) conference.

Young Adam Corey and his twin sisters Samantha and Stephanie were dressed to the nines and fitted in well as they photobombed the Hooker Berry celebrations.

MASSIVE thanks are due to Adelaïde Perrie and Emmanuelle Morvillers of Le TROT who last weekend arranged for a party of six Irish horsemen to receive a guided tour of the Grosbois Training Centre.

“A bit like Phoenix Park with trotting stables dotted every 800 metres,” – is probably the best way to describe the 16th century mansion and grounds at the Domaine de Grosbois, some 15km from the racetrack at Vincennes.

“You only get what you put in,” is an old saying in business and Le TROT have invested massive resources into Grosbois and a nationwide network of tracks and studs.

Le TROT international department have done wonders for trotters as opposed to pacers in Ireland. Emmanuelle and her team also arrange sales and mentoring to countries as diverse as Spain and America.

At the moment the Trotteurs Français Ecurie D, Ready Cash are siring winners in the US. Love You is a successful sire in New Zealand, due to artificial insemination.

Breeding is only one aspect of harness racing and Grosbois is mainly a training centre. There are 60 yards on the estate, totaling 1,500 stables. The bigger yards are self-sufficient with a trainer’s house, tack room, hay loft and staff bedrooms.

The complex has a 1,500-metre track, and two 1,000-metre tracks. There are 40km of natural trails which require 2,000 tonnes of sand per annum. The covered track is 400 metres long and the management emphasise that it is not intended for fast work.

A veterinary centre and a college for young people are also important parts of the domain. Farriers abound on the estate and there is at least one sizeable harness retailer. The estate has many turnout paddocks and is home to many species of birds, and also wild boars who can damage the various tracks.

Of course there is an equine swimming pool and there are several treadmills.

All the manure goes to the Saumur to cultivate button mushrooms. At least 100 cubic metres of ‘waste litter’ is generated every day – what goes in must go out.

Visitors are warned not to touch the horses. Diseases can be spread and our guide also recalled a story from years ago where a lady wearing corticosteroid ointment petted a horse and this action was linked to a positive test on race day.

The chateau itself is palatial and includes a magnificent museum. The brochure acknowledges that trotting was born in the USA. However, the sport was conducted in France, on Cherbourg beach, in 1836.

The museum features several bronze casts, including one of a stallion in a modern sulky at full stretch by Frederic Jager and a one of a stable lad showing off a horse by Arthur, le Comte du Passage.

Our party was particularly proud to see several exhibits relating to Charlie Mills (1888-1972) who was born in Germany of Irish parents and was the Jean Michel Bazire of his day. Mills lived a flamboyant lifestyle, and trained the winner of the Prix d’Amerique three times. He drove 4,400 winners.

The training centre at Grosbois and the museum would be of interest to any horsey person and a visit is highly recommended. And for a refreshing change, the lunch at the grooms’ canteen was devoid of burgers, goujons or chips!

CLOWNS on stilts, a floating jazz band, a mounted musical ride by the Republican Guard, a trophy delivered by parachutists who land right on the winning line. This was no ordinary meeting.

The drivers come out of a tunnel and are introduced to the public, like at a darts match.

There is €40 million wagered on the ‘world championship of trotting’ although the Americans might dispute that strapline.

The compere’s voice carries well throughout the 40,000 capacity without deafening the paying public. Laurente Bruneteau is the MC and he marshals proceedings well.

Good value

The turnstile price was a humble €1.50 on the Saturday card which included four group races. Presumably, the Sunday entrance price could be dearer but these levels should be noted for the future development of all kinds of racing on these shores. Charge the public less and they should eat, drink and wager more, would seem to be the theory.

At the other end of the scale €300 per head would get you canapes, crab starter, veal, a cheeseboard, lemon meringue with mango, the obligatory champagne (when in Rome etc) and a nice 2018 Côte de Beaune from the Maison Louis Jadot.

Frank’s coffee truck at Portmarnock, this is not. Supporters of various horses mill around with flags and baseball hats in the racing colours.

All Europe’s leading harness racing nations are here in force. Swarthy Maltese trotting people queue for the PMU alongside Scandinavians with jawlines like fine china. Le TROT’s international wing has worked hard on spreading the gospel and Estonians and Latvians are in attendance also.

Well represented

Ireland was well represented. Our photographer Nadina Ironia has exhibited her paintings at Vincennes and has picked up many commissions over the years.

John Roche, well known owner and the scourge of the bookies, was in attendance. Dublin carriage driver Christy Gunning had a ball. Emerging apprentice Adam Corey swapped his normal racing colours for a grey three-piece number.

Jimmy Reilly from Finglas made his first trip to France at the age of 81 for the big weekend. Jimmy has seen harness racing in the USA, Canada and Australia.

“The atmosphere was great,” Jimmy said about his trip. “It was nice and noisy, a bit like The Little Brown Jug in Ohio. The standard of horses was very high.”

Famous face

John Campbell, winner of $300 million as a driver, was in the crowd. He now heads up the Hambletonian Society in the US. Eight times winner of The Famous Musselburgh Pace Ian Pimlott, from Manchester was at the meeting.

The trainers’ and grooms’ bar and canteen run by their association was the place to be.

You could rub shoulders with some of the grooms with a runner in the next, or one of the leading owners. Three bar staff at this small but busy facility was not enough.

Well-regarded driver

Harry Murdock (74) passes away in Belfast

HARRY Murdock, the driver’s driver, passed away in Belfast after a battle with cancer on January 22nd. He was 74.

During the 70s, 80s and 90s he was the dominant driver in Ireland. He may not have won as many races numerically as some of his contemporaries but Harry and his brothers were masters at picking a race and aiming for it. The stable won the biggest race of those times, The Joe Harris Memorial, three times.

Harry is survived by wife Linda, sons Jay and Gavin who carried on as horsemen, a daughter Linsey and another son, Ryan. A huge turnout from the Irish harness racing community was at the funeral in St Malachy’s chapel in Harry’s beloved Market area. Our sympathies go to the family.

DURING the past fortnight Ladyford Dollar won his first start at The Meadowlands in 1.52.3 for the Ron Burke stable. Harry Knows, still owned by the Kanes from Trim, won his qualifier (a barrier trial in effect) in 1.53 and should run up a sequence in the lower grades.