by Thomas Hedlund

Alessandro Gocciadoro, who has dominated the reports from Europe during 2023, had a great day at the track in Naples on Sunday (Dec. 10) afternoon as he claimed two of the biggest races on the card.

In the filly division of the $190,000 Gran Premio Allevamento Masaf, Gocciadoro steered Funny Gio (Face Time Bourbon) to a superior victory after a first-over trip. The 2-year-old filly was outstanding over her opponents in the prestigious event and flew home to the win in a mile rate of 1:59 over 1.3 miles.

Gocciadoro continued on to claim the $105,000 Gran Premio Royal Mares with his Clarissa (Exploit Caf), who bested leading stablemate Zeudi Amg in the stretch. Clarissa won in 1:53.3; stablemate Daughter As was second while third stablemate Blackflash Bar was third. Zeudi Amg held onto fourth place meaning that Gocciadoro claimed the top four places in the race.

In the colt division of the $190,000 Gran Premio Allevamento Masaf, Santo Mollo-trained Felipe Roc (Filipp Roc) took a safe wire-to-wire victory with the trainer in the bike. Felipe Roc came home in a mile rate of 1:59.3 over 1.3 miles and this was the trotter’s first win in his career.

SAN MOTEUR READY FOR PDA

Björn Goop’s San Moteur (Panne de Moteur) proved best in Sunday’s (Dec. 10) $125,000 Prix du Bourbonnais over 2,850 meters at Vincennes and the race ended with three new names for the Prix d’Amérique in January 2024.

San Moteur had all eyes on him after his tremendous finish in the Prix de Bretagne three weeks ago, a finish that didn’t take the 6-year-old trotter to a safe spot in the Prix d’Amérique, so the bettors were on their toes when trainer/driver Björn Goop announced that the tactics in the Prix du Bourbonnais would be more offensive.

San Moteur was served a perfect ground saving trip by his trainer and in the last turn, Goop felt that he had the advantage of the race. But, at the same time, leader Izoard Vedaquais refused to give up on the inside and strong horses finished quickly far outside, so for a while it seemed like San Moteur would be bested by the French trotters. Strong moral saved him this time and the Swedish bred trotter won by a head in a mile rate of 1:55.4.

Replay here.

Izoard Vedaquais was runner up and Gu d’Heripre finished strongly in third. These three horses are now ready for the 2024 Prix d’Amérique.

In the $210,000 Prix de l’Etoile, the home stretch became a fight between two stable mates where one of them unfortunately made a break shortly before the wire. William Bigeon trained King Opera did the heavy job first over, outside of leader Fiftyfour and King Opera disarmed his inside opponent at the top of the stretch.

Bigeon’s horse looked to sprint towards a very prestigious triumph when stable mate Kana de Beylev (Express Jet), who sat behind King Opera in second over, attacked. The fight between the two stable mates ended with a break for the heroic King Opera and Kana de Beylev could title herself as winner of the big race for 3-year-olds. The mile rate over 1.3 miles was 1:54.

Replay here.