LIAM Wallace cannot get about the yard as much as he would like. Therefore he has become one of the most avid watchers of French trotting on the internet and various TV channels.

By a quirk of fate, the Wallaces drew Athlete Royale (now eight) from the hat in the Trotteur Français scheme in 2017. (The concept is that you pay for a horse and then there is an open draw).

Athlete Royale is, to my knowledge, the only son of Ready Cash to race in Ireland. Unfortunately, Athlete Royale is “un hongre” (a gelding).

Imagine Wallace’s delight when, at the top of the stretch in last Sunday’s Opido sponsored Prix d’Amerique (€1,000,000) three sons of Ready Cash looked like they were going to fill the 1-2-3.

You’d get more loose information out of North Korea than from the Newtown Stud, but it’s my hunch that the Wallaces sold the very useful Ultimo d’Ouville last autumn because they believe Athlete Royale (two years younger) has the beating of him.

Back to Paris, the Swedish-based but French-bred Readly Express, with the 12-time Swedish champion Bjorn Goop, got first run on Bold Eagle (Franck Nivard) while the other Ready Cash horse, Bird Parker faded for fifth.

The most famous trotter in Europe at the moment, Bold Eagle had to settle for the runner-up spot.

As winner in 2016 and 2017, the win by joint-favourite Readly Express robbed the race of its obvious headline. The first and second were separated by what we would call a neck. That fateful neck may keep Bold Eagle off the list of three-time winners.

However, such is the durability of the Trotteur Français breed that Bold Eagle could still be a player next year as an eight-year-old. The mighty Ourasi won the race five times between 1986 and 1990.

WORLD CHAMPION

The race went a kilometre rate of 1.11.2 (equates to 1.53.9 for the mile). This equals Bold Eagle’s time last year. It was the seventh time a Swedish horse has taken the so-called world championship of trotting, and a second win in the race for the accomplished Monsieur Goop. The winner is trained by a Finn, Timos Numos.

The Vincennes track attracted 38,123 spectators and a handle of €29 million on the PMU. Around 50 Irish trotting fans were in attendance there to watch the big race and also, to a man, to cheer on Macroom’s Luke Kelleher.