One of the most anticipated days on the harness racing calendar comes up on Sunday (January 25) when the Prix d'Amerique takes place at Vincennes Racecourse in Paris. Eighteen of Europe's top trotters are set to compete over 2,700 meters (about a mile and two-thirds) and from a standing start.
The lead-up to this year's Prix d'Amerique saw two of the main contenders taken out of consideration for the race. First, back-to-back champion Idao de Tillard saw his dream of a PDA triple ended due to colic surgery in November, and then Jushua Tree, the victor in two of the local preps - the Prix de Bretagne and the Prix de Bourgogne – suffered a hairline fracture in one of his legs and was withdrawn on Monday (January 19). Jushua Tree's scratch was part of a double whammy for the father/son duo of Jean-Michel and Nicolas Bazire, as Jean-Michel was hurt in a training accident just prior to that, which meant Nicolas was slated to drive Jushua Tree.
As for the horses that are scheduled to line up on Sunday, trainer Daniel Redén and owner Stall Zet have a 1-2 punch of Epic Kronos and Francesco Zet entered. Epic Kronos, a 6-year-old stallion by Muscle Hill, broke stride in the Prix de Bretagne at Vincennes on November 16 but came back to win the Prix Tenor de Baune in a stakes-record clocking of 1'11"2 (mile rate of 1:54 3/5) on December 21.
"In his last start he was absolutely fantastic," said Anders Malmrot, Team Manager for Stall Zet. "Epic Kronos really likes racing at Vincennes and is a tough horse that can do it by himself. As a 4-year-old he won the UET Derby at Vincennes and Daniel has been aiming for Prix d'Amerique for a long time with this horse.
"For us, Epic is more of a sure thing on Vincennes, but on a good day both our horses are possible winners with some racing luck."
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Meanwhile, Francesco Zet prepped for the Prix d'Amerique in Sweden, with his last appearance a winning one in the Group 2 Gert Lindberg's race at Solvalla on December 26. An 8-year-old stallion by Father Patrick, Francesco Zet will be making his Prix d'Amerique debut.
"Francesco Zet did a nice job in his last start at Solvalla, even though the competitors were not at top level. He was calm and did exactly what Daniel wanted the whole day," Malmrot commented. "After that he´s been super in training and everything is just the way we want before Sunday.
"Last time he raced at Vincennes he was a little bit nervous, but now he feels different in behavior and hopefully everything will work out fine."
Francesco Zet will be adding a new driver on Sunday as Benjamin Rochard takes over from Orjan Kihlström. The connections did the same thing with Epic Kronos in his preps as Paul-Philippe Ploquin steered him both times and will be at the controls again in the Prix d'Amerique.
"This year when our horses have raced in France we used French drivers because the competition at Vincennes is so tough and you need to know when and where to be aggressive or not," noted Malmrot. "When we got the possibility to use two of the best drivers in France, we took a shot at them."
The main competition for the Redén/Stall Zet pair looks like Go On Boy, who was third in this race, won the final of the Elitopp last year and prepped with a second behind Jushua Tree in the Prix de Bourgogne on December 28. Josh Power, fourth in the 2025 Prix d'Amerique and the victor in the Prix de Bretagne on November 16, could also be in the mix, as could mare Inmarosa, who captured the Prix du Bourbonnais on December 7 and was third in the Prix de Bourgogne.
"The Prix d'Amerique is always a tough race to win and the French horses have been training and racing for this the whole winter," Malmrot said. "This year the race had some setbacks with two time Prix d'Amerique winner Idao de Tillard injured and this week the same happened with Jushua Tree, so it´s an open race with lots of potential winners. In my opinion the toughest to beat are Go On Boy, Josh Power and Inmarosa."
The full Prix d'Amerique field with drivers and trainers is as follows:
Head Number-Horse-Driver-Trainer
1- Harmony du Rabutin - David Bekaert - Guillaume Huguet
2- Iroise De La Noé - Eric Raffin - Thomas Levesque
3- King Opéra - William Bigeon - William Bigeon
4- J'Aime Le Foot - Antoine Lhérété - Antoine Lhérété
5- Immortal Doc - Björn Goop - Fredrik Wallin
6- Epic Kronos - Paul-Philippe Ploquin - Daniel Redén
7- Keep Going - Mathieu Mottier - Mathieu Mottier
8- Bullet The Bluesky - Daniel Wajersten - Daniel Wajersten
9- Lovino Bello - Clément Duvaldestin - Thierry Duvaldestin
10- Frank Gio - Matthieu Abrivard - Sébastien Guarato
11- Josh Power - Sébastien Ernault - Sébastien Ernault
12- Just Love You - Alexandre Abrivard - Laurent-Claude Abrivard
13- Hokkaido Jiel - Franck Nivard - Jean-Luc Dersoir
14- Inmarosa - Léo Abrivard - Laurent-Claude Abrivard
15- Koctel du Dain - David Thomain - Philippe Allaire
16- Hooker Berry - Damien Bonne - Antoine Lhérété
17- Francesco Zet - Benjamin Rochard - Daniel Redén
18- Go On Boy - Romain Derieux - Romain Derieux
Ten races are scheduled to take place at Vincennes in total on Sunday, with the Prix d'Amerique on tap in Race 5. Post time for the opener is 11:55 a.m. Paris time or 5:55 a.m. (EST). The Prix d'Amerique is scheduled for 4:20 p.m. local time.