THE centennial Prix d’Amerique of €900,000 was run at l’Hippodrome Vincennes last Sunday. Even by the usual standards, the crowd at the venue was heaving with excitement. A massive marketing push by Le Trot and a larger than usual opening ceremony deserved a big race, and they got one.

The young gun in the line up, Face Time Bourbon, who was second favourite at 4.10, saw off the actual favourite Davidson du Pont who started at 2.90 on the PMU, or 15/8 in our money. The winner benefited from a superb drive by the Swede Bjorn Goop, who drew plenty of compliments from the sizeable Irish contingent in attendance.

Face Time Bourbon was about the only horse not name-checked in last week’s preview on this page, which speaks volumes for my prowess as a tipster.

Garvagh man

‘Nigel Quigley from Garvagh’ may not sound as exotic as Bjorn Goop or Jean Michele Bazire, but the tall reinsman did this country proud in the Coupe des Amateurs on the Saturday card. Nigel’s horse (allocated by ballot) Be King (9yo h Password - Queen Along) was drawn 16. Effectively the pair were eight-wide on the outside of two rows of eight starters behind the mobile gate.

The difficult draw combined with recent form figures of 05660099 meant that 130/1 on the PMU accurately reflected Be King’s chance. Nigel can be justly proud of how he nursed the chesnut around Vincennes’ sweeping turns and gradually crept to a ‘never closer’ seventh on the line.

“I think I’m the first guy from home to get round Vincennes without galloping,” reported Quigley from Paris on Sunday morning. He is correct. Nigel’s solid performance and Sean Kane’s breakthrough win in Normandy last November could mean that Messrs. Bazire, Nivard and Raffin need to look to their laurels.

Nigel was full of praise for the ‘Temple of Trot’, as the massive complex is known, and the organisation of the racing. “They brought all the drivers in for a briefing. The stewards explained the warm-up procedures. There are parts of the track where you can warm up sharply and other parts where you are meant to go slow. There is a countdown system until the gate pulls away. You could miss the start if you’re not careful.”

The amateurs’ race went to the German driver Johann Preining junior who came with a well-timed run on Jet Voice to mug Staro Ivy League and J Raisanen of Finland on the line.

The King is dead - Long live the King

The 2020 Prix d’Amerique will be remembered as the changing of the guard. Bold Eagle (L’aigle Des Vincennes / Eagle of Vincennes) is a dual Amerique winner and, for obvious reasons, popular with the public. However, old age comes to us all and the nine-year-old looked a bit tapped for toe on the day.

The seven-year-old Davidson du Pont (Frank Ouvrie) was much touted for the big prize but it was the even younger Face Time Bourbon (a five-year-old) who dethroned both Bold Eagle (E Raffin) and last year’s heroine, Belina Josselyn (J.M. Bazire).

Excellent (Alexander Abrivard) led early, but had the crowd ‘oohing’ dramatically when he broke with 17 runners stacked up behind him. Wisely, the driver took to the ‘escape route’ on the inside of the light plastic pylons.

At the intersection between the large and the smaller track last time around, most of the major players still held a chance. Davidson du Pont and Frank Ouvrie made for home and his backers were counting their euros. However, Bjorn Goop and Face Time Bourbon had been sitting behind the cover of Davidson du Pont and performed an eye-of-the-needle manoeuvre to come with a fresh horse on the inside.

The win was the second Prix d’Amerique for the driver and a third for trainer Sebastien Guarato, who also trains Bold Eagle.

Davidson du Pont stayed on for second spot, with his stable companion Belina Josselyn in third. Trainer Jean Michele Bazire drove his ‘ballerina’ himself and was actually closer at the 500-metre mark than he was on the same day last year.

Sportingly, JMB and Ouvrie both stated afterwards that the best horse won on the day.

The winner was bred by a German, is majority-owned by an Italian, trained by a Frenchman and driven, as we have said, by a Swede. It’s a cosmopolitan place, Vincennes.

Perhaps the French trotter matures later, or it may be the emphasis on longer all-aged group races, but a horse of five is considered a mere stripling in France.

“He’s the same age as when Bold Eagle won his first Prix d’ Amerique,” stated a keen follower of the French scene, Ger Kane, who is currently overseeing 22 ‘Frenchies’ at his Mooreside Stud. There could be another one or two in Face Time Bourbon, although Davidson du Pont was unlucky. ‘Face Time’ will eventually be Guarato’s replacement for Bold Eagle.

As Face Time Bourbon is by the same stallion as Bold Eagle, namely Ready Cash, and has the same solid bay colour, comparisons are inevitable. “Face Time Bourbon is the new kid on the block” opined Buster Gilligan who was trackside.

There was talk around the sport in the aftermath of the race that Bold Eagle may close out his career racing in Canada and America. Ringo Star Trebb, the Swedish runner is going to stud this year.

Portmarnock regulars on tour

JOHN Joe Griffin from Lucan said that he had never seen anything like the stage shows of the opening ceremonies.

Also present was 16-year-old trainer’s son Eoin Murphy, who was taking a break from his studies at Skibbereen Community College. “I thought Nigel Quigley did well. There was some cheering for the big race. I couldn’t believe the range of equipment at the trade show,” was Eoin’s impression.

Oisin Quill, Alan Wallace senior, John Sheehy and Wayne McNevin were all in town. The IHRA top brass of Mark Flanagan, James O’ Sullivan and James Levis were fighting Ireland’s corner at the annual UET (European Union de Trot) conference on Saturday morning.

Nadina Ironia received great compliments for the exhibition of her paintings and, most importantly of all, some sales of her work.

Emma Kane was the lucky winner of two owners’ lounge tickets provided by Cowan Brothers, CASE dealers of Eglinton and Mallusk, CASE being a main sponsor.