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ALL THE LATEST ON THE EUROPEAN SCENE BROUGHT TO YOU BY HARAS DES TROTTEURS SWEDEN Hans R Stromberg’s star On Track Piraten made it six wins on the trot at Gold Di- vision level when defending his Farjestads Jubileumslopp title over 1640m at Farjestad on the weekend. The 1/10 favourite didn’t let the punters down with regular driver Johnny Takter staying back early before moving up to sit outside for- mer Elitloppet finalist Royal Fighter (Varenne) as they went down the back straight. In the straight Jennifer Till- man on Royal Fighter fought gamely but On Track Piraten just eased past, making the winning time, a slick 1’10”7 (1.53.4MR) in extremely cold conditions, look easy. High- speed Call (From Above) was a distant third. The powerful 9YO son of French stallion Kool du Caux has now won 33 of his 101 lifetime starts for earnings of 13.8MSEK ($2.06M). BELLISSIMA FRANCE be- came the fourth mare in a row to win the world’s richest monte, with a bril- liant win in the €700,000 Prix du Cornulier. The daughter of Blue Dream joined dual winner Roxane Griff while jockey Mathieu Abrivard emulated his cousin Alexandre who was aboard another mare in Scarlet Turgot, last year’s winner. It was Mathieu Abrivard’s fourth win in the French clas- sic, but it was his first since 2006 when he won for the third time in a row on cham- pion Jag be Bellouet. Abrivard eased Bellissima France to the back of the bunch as they followed At- tentionally (Jasmine de Flo- re) up the hill. Abrivard gradually moved Bellissima France forward and at the top of the rise latched on the back of Eric Raffin on Tornade du Digeon who eased out of a perfect spot in the trail to shoot to the front. As they rounded the turn, the pair got into a two-horse war but Bellissima France proved too strong, winning by a length from a game Tor- nade du Digeon. Favourite Bilibili (Niky) finished fast but too late for third. Monte racing dominated proceedings at Vincennes on the weekend with an ad- ditional four big races under saddle held. The 3YOs competed in the first of the group races in preparation for the Group I Prix de President de Repub- lique in June with Philippe Allaire’s Dollar Macker (Saxo de Vandel) winning the Prix Camille de Wazieres for colts. The fillies Prix de Par- dieu went to Durzie (Jag de Bellouet) ridden by Alexan- dre Abrivard for his father Laurent Claude. The Prix Roxane Griff for 6YOS went to Antoine Dabou- is on Billy de la Calade, while the Prix de Pornichet for over 8YOs was won by Thierry Du- valdestin’s Uno Dancer (Off- shore Dream). VIVA LA BELLISSIMA FRANCE LOVE YOU DIPLOMATE D’AM (Winner 2700m Vincennes) EMIR D’YVEL (2nd 2150m Cagnes-Su-Mer) READY CASH COMETE DARCHE (Winner 2150m Vincennes) BINGO CASH (Winner 2850m Vincennes) CASH AND GO (2nd 2700m Vincennes) REPEAT LOVE ELIOTTNELL ONE (Winner 2175m Vincennes) DALENTI- NO (Winner 2725m Garonne) CALICOT DU VIVIER (2nd 2925m Nantes) CELESTE ETOILE (3rd 2325m Toulouse) CAID SLY (3rd 2175m Vincennes) SAM BOURBON BEBETO (2nd 2950m Nantes) DOLLY MARCEAUX (3rd 2700m Vincennes) QUAKER JET ELISIONE MAG (3rd 2700m Vincennes) ORLANDO VICI EPERON DE FRECA (Winner 2325m Toulouse) ELEAZAR D’ALOUETTE (Winner 2150m Nantes) UN AS DU GADE (2nd 2875m Vincennes) VOYOU DE JAVRON (2nd 2650m Vivaux) THE BEST MADRIK DIVINE BEJI (3rd 2100m Vin- cennes) CURIOUS DREAM (3rd 2625m La Garenne) MILE RATE CONVERSION: 2.00 =1’14”6, 1.57=1’12”7, 1.54=1’10”8, 1.51= 1’09. French superstar Bold Eagle heads one of the strongest fields ever assembled in the Grand Prix d’Amerique, scheduled to be run early Monday morning, Australsian time. The new qualifying struc- ture, by which the first three home in each of the “B” races has delivered a field packed full of the rising and established stars of Europe- an trotting, with only five plac- es available in the field based on earnings. So no high earning light- weight Italian speedsters or over the hill French veterans in the race this year, Instead we see the likes Sweden’s Daniel Reden’s international quartet, a mix- ture of European-breds and well performed US imports including the exciting Propul- sion (Muscle Hill). Norwegian star Lionel, Swedish-bred Call Me Keep- er and royally-bred US mare Wild Honey - closely related to influential sires Victory Dream and Dream Vacation - complete the high powered international quartet in Re- den’s Solvala barn. Lining up alongside this quartet, is a quintet of the new super crop of French stars, headed by Bold Eagle himself. In French fashion, all are named after the requisite letter that each crop bears, which underlines the remark- able age-group classic pro- gramme, which is the bed- rock of the French breeding and racing programme. With another representa- tive Bellissima France cap- turing the Prix du Cornulier on the weekend, a race that included entrant Booster Winner. Super mare Belina Josselyn, multiple group one winner Bird Parker and Briac Dark are all hugely talent- ed, and set to dominate the scene for years to come. But in their way is Bold Ea- gle, who is hoping to emulate his sire Ready Cash as a two- time winner of the race. He has won a remarkable 30 of his 35 starts for €2.34M. Getting their last chance in the classic are France’s richest ever trotter Timoko (€4.30M, 31 wins) who has been placed 2nd and 3rd in this event, and the other 10YO Tiego d’Etang, a Group I winner, and a former runner up in the Prix du Cornulier. Two of the runners are like- ly to be Italian-breds trained in Sweden, Treasure Kronos, trained by ex-pat American Jerry Riordan and Stefan Pet- terson’s Oasis Bi, a well-per- formed warhorse on the rich European circuit. Completing the field is likely to be former Prix d’Ameriqu runner-up Voltigeur de Myrt, trained by France-based Ital- ian Roberto Donati and driv- en for the first time in the big race by his son Lorenzo, and Anna Mix, who has won all over Europe, and is trained in France by Franck Leblanc. The final field is announced tonight. RACE FACTS Helen Johansson is the only woman to have won the Prix d’Amerique (1995). Henri Levesque is both the most successful owner and trainer, with five victories including Roquépine in 1966, 1967 and 1968. The most suc- cessful driver is Jean-René Gougeon who won eight times, twice with Roquépine, three with Bellino II and three with Ourasi (who with four victories holds the record for wins). Bold Eagle set the race record with his 1’11”4 (1.54.4MR) for the 2700m last year. BOLD EAGLE HEADS STELLAR PDA FIELD AUSTRALIA Love You gelding Great Things Happen put in an impressive performance winning first up in Australia for Greg Sugars after transferring from Gavin Smith’s South Eyre barn. The imposing gelding powered away to win the T2-T4 trot at Melton on Tuesday, putting him well in the mix for the big races coming up in Victoria. The lightly raced 5YO was third in the Group One Na- tional Trot at his last outing in New Zealand and has now won eight out of his 18 starts. NEW ZEALAND Exciting Love You 3YOs Habibi Inta and Enghien showed they were on target for a resumption of their ri- valry in the first 3YO classic of the season, the Hamble- tonian Classic next weekend. Habibi Inta had just over a length to spare on Enghien at Ashburton track on Tues- day but Enghien’s trainer Greg Hope was delighted with the run of last season’s NZ 2YO of the year. “They went around 2 min- utes for the last mile and run home in 56 with a last quarter in around 27 and he actually broke for a couple of strides but came down trot- ting quickly, so Ricky (May) was really happy with him.” Hope’s stable star Monbet has come through his recent operation very well and is looking to resume training in June. “He spent a month in the box, a month in the yard and now he’s out in the paddock and it is looking really prom- ising, the vet is very happy with him.” For more information visit www.harasdestrotteurs.com.au Ustie Haufor just held on to defeat a strong European field in the Group III Prix de Brest over 2850m at Vin- cennes on Saturday. Charles Julien Bigeon driv- ing Ustie Haufor for his father Christian moved alongside leader Vulcain de Vandel (Jag de Bellouet) as they turned for home and shot out to a three length lead. He had enough in the tank to hold off a fast finishing Avenir de Blay (Hooper) and Swedish-trained Rod Steward (Love You) an Italian-bred in ex-pat American Jerry Rior- dan’s Halmstad barn. In the other group races in the bike, Franck Nivard came with a late run on Delia de Pommereux (Niky) to edge out Detroit Castelets (Neoh Jiel) the Prix Bellino II for French 4YOS. And in the Group III Prix de Dinan for French 6YOs, Olivi- er Bizoux’ Best du Hauty (Roc Meslois) stayed on strongly to down Brissac (Mercenaire) driven by Jean Michel Bazire. Bigeon claims Prix de Brest on Ustie Haufor LIKELY PRIX D’AMERIQUE FIELD R6 1,000,000 Group I (Int) 2700m Vincennes No Name, Origin, m/h, Age, Sire, Driver, Trainer 1 Treasure Kronos (ITA) (5m Raja Mirchi) C Eriksson J Riordan 2 Briac Dark (FRA) (6h Prince Gede) D Thomain T Duvaldestin 3 Call Me Keeper (SWE) (7h Pine Chip) P Vercruysse D Redén 4 Propulsion (USA) (6h Muscle Hill) Ö Kihlström D Redén 5 Belina Josselyn (FRA) (6m Love You) Tr/Dr JM Bazire 6 Lionel (NOR) (7h Look de Star) M Abrivard D Redén 7 Booster Winner (FRA) (6h Love You-) E Raffin S Guarato 8 Princess Grif (ITA) (8m Varenne) R Andreghetti P Billard 9 Anna Mix (FRA) (7m Ludo de Castelle) F Leblanc 10 Bird Parker (FRA) (6h Ready Cash) JP Monclin P Allaire 11 Akim du Cap Vert (FRA) (7h First de Retz) Tr/Dr F Anne 12 Wild Honey (USA) (5m Cantab Hall) G Gelormini D Redén 13 Voltigeur de Myrt (FRA) (8h Opus Viervil) L Donati R Donati 14 Oasis Bi (ITA) (9h Toss Out) J Takter S P Pettersson 15 Univers de Pan (FRA) (9h Kenya du Pont) Tr/Dr P Daugeard 16 Tiego d’Etang (FRA) (10h Chaillot) Tr/Dr C Bigeon 17 Bold Eagle (FRA) (6h Ready Cash) F Nivard S Guarato 18 Timoko (FRA) (10h Imoko) B Goop R Westerink Probable starters as posted by LeTrot website Bold Eagle wins last year’s Prix d’Amerique. Mathieu Abrivard cele- brates aboard Bellissima France. GERARD FORNI Ustie Haufor inside holds on to beat Avenir de Blay (11).
