Eighteen of the best trotters on the planet compete over the classic distance of 2700m for a total allocation of €1,000,000. Among them, five favourite horses clearly stand out in light of the PMU odds this Sunday (and supported by the excellent “Equidia Notes”): Go On Boy (n°16) is announced as the big favourite, thanks to his consistency at the highest level and a recent 2nd place in the Bourgogne, Idao de Tillard (n°18) holds the best score (19/20) from Equidia: 32 wins in 43 races and a total removal of shoes unheard of since 2024., San Moteur (n°13) winner 8 times out of 16 outings, represents Sweden and is a serious contender with Björn Goop, Josh Power (n°7) is one of the youngest in the event: already winner of the Prix Bourbonnais, he will seek to surprise over 2700m and Hooker Berry (n°17) under the guidance of the Bazire, remains a formidable challenger, particularly on a selective course where he can finish very quickly.
Already a winner last year, the French trotter Idao de Tillard did it again by winning, this Sunday, the 104th Prix d’Amérique at the Vincennes racecourse. The horse driven by Clément Duvaldestin beat Just Love You and Go On Boy (n°16).
And while the Prix d’Amérique is the biggest harness racing race in the world and the best endowed in France, with a million euros in various prizes, the winner will pocket the very nice sum of 450,000 euros. Like last year. Generally, the winnings are distributed as follows: 80% goes to the owner of the winning star, 15% is paid to the trainer and 5% to the driver.
And of the million euros in allocations, the remaining 550,000 euros are shared from the second in the race to the seventh.
These are the winnings of Just Love You who has become a millionaire! The bank account of the Abrivard family champion increased this Sunday by €250,000 thanks to her second place in « la belle ».
« I had confidence in the horse. We had unshod all four feet, that helps a lot. The work we have done with this horse is huge, we have done a great job », rejoiced Thierry Duvaldestin, now a four-time winner of « l’Amérique » after his triumphs with Ready Cash in 2011 and 2012, as well as the one won last year.
Thiery Duvaldestin acknowledges: « I persist in saying that this is not the Idao de Tillard of last year. At 7 years old, you now have to deal with minor health problems as is often the case with older horses. There have been a lot of leading players on the sidelines in recent months, and we did not want to be part of it. That’s why, after his victory in the Prix de Bourgogne, Clément and I made every effort to keep him in shape without overtraining him or even doing a few extra kilometres. I was counting on removing all four feet to give him that little extra something. We also took the risk of making him lighter by going from 220 to 180 grams. I wasn’t really worried about that and I admit that I could have presented him barefoot earlier but I was playing the scaredy-cat. We now know that he could be “D4” from time to time. I was mainly worried because I didn’t know if, by not increasing his workload after the Bourgogne, he would still be able to compete for victory. I don’t think I’m the only one to have doubts and wonder if we’re doing too much or not enough. In the end, everything went well and the whole team can be proud.”
“The great champions do the double. We showed that the first time, it was not a stroke of luck. We won the prize shod and unshod. The horse was exceptional, he is a huge champion, » said Clément Duvaldestin at the finish. And his father, who is the trainer of the Norman star, also expressed his pride.
Prix d’Amérique 2025
Hippodrome de Vincennes (Paris)
The quinté of the Prix d’Amérique 2025:
1. Idao de Tillard – C. Duvaldestin
2. Just Love You – A. Abrivard
3. Go on Boy – R. Derieux
4. Josh Power – R. Raffin
5. Hussard du Landret – Y. Lebourgeois
During the Prix d’Amérique weekend, eleven of the twenty events were adorned with the European or international label. If the visitors remain ambitious to win glory in the Land of Lights, they will have to wait a little longer before dethroning the French in the premier event. We have to go back to the Swedish Readly Express in 2018 to find a foreigner on the highest step of the podium in America. Despite everything, the foreigners did not fail to shine, or rather to put some French stars in their boots. We will remember, of course, the transalpine Frank Gio, crowned at the expense of Lombok Jiel in the Prix Ourasi (Gr. I), and Golden Gio, winner of the Paul Viel (Gr. II). Small consolation, the two heroes have the Frenchman, Face Time Bourbon, as their father. Good blood will tell. And it took a hell of a Kokote (1st) to cover himself in glory and block the Italian wave East Asia (2nd) and Executiv Ek (3rd) in the Prix Bold Eagle (Gr. I). Stealing from progress to progress, the Swedish Working Class Hero, runner-up to Just Love You in the Ténor de Baune (December), won his third success of the meeting for his fourth outing ahead of another Italian accustomed to winning, Cobra Killer Gar in the Prix Jean-René Gougeon (Gr. III).
This is the question we were asking ourselves before this Prix d’Amérique, knowing that the year 2025 began on the foot of the decline on the PMU side (around -2%).
In 2025, the stakes were set at €27.8 million, compared to €28 million in 2024, €30 million in 2023 and €30.6 million in 2018. Over the whole of Sunday, on which foreign meetings are more or less added to accompany two French Premiums, a total of €32.1 million was wagered compared to a little over €32.5 million in 2024.
On Saturday at Vincennes, 6 horses won while being unshod on all four feet in the 8 races in which it was possible to do so. And on Sunday, 9 shone in this configuration in the 10 races on the program. Among them, it is interesting to note that 2 of them, namely Idao de Tillard and Lara Croft, were doing so for the first time and that the young Lombok Jiel almost hit the mark by being presented in this way too.
During this Prix d’Amérique weekend, 166 horses ran barefoot in total out of the 253 that had the possibility, or 65.5% of the competitors in the running.
©2025 – IMPACT EUROPEAN
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