by Thomas Hedlund

Vincennes racetrack in Paris opened its gates again on Friday (March 22) for a short spring meeting. There were some nice races on the Saturday (March 23) card, in particular.

Benjamin Goetz-trained Emeraude de Bais (Repeat Love) had a splendid winter in Paris where she participated in both the Prix d’Amérique and Prix de France, before she finished second to Vernissage Grif in the Criterium de Vitesse two weeks ago.

In Saturday’s $100,000 Prix du Bois de Vincennes, the 10-year-old mare entered the race as the best merited trotter and after a perfect drive by Franck Nivard, Emeraude de Bais disarmed a strong Horsy Dream a few meters before the wire in a mile rate of 1:55.2 over 1.7 miles. The strong mare will later travel north to Åby in Sweden, for the final of Paralympiatravet in early May.

Do you remember Belina Josselyn? The chestnut mare who won the Prix d’Amérique with trainer Jean-Michel Bazire in 2019 now has her offspring Liza Josselyn (Ready Cash) racing in France, and in the $75,000 Prix de Chatillon, the well-bred 3-year-old filly claimed her fourth win in five attempts in a mile rate of 2:00 over 1.6 miles. We can suppose that her name will be mentioned several more times during this season.

PHOENIX PHOTO UPSETS IN GOLD FINAL

High On Pepper, the horse of the winter in Sweden, entered Saturday’s (March 23) $105,000 Gold division final with eight consecutive wins and was obviously the big favorite, but a final means that all the best horses in each division meet and Svante Ericsson’s 10-year-old gelding Phoenix Photo (Super Photo Kosmos) proved that winter has turned to spring even in the northern European country. The month of March means that horses are allowed to race without shoes (prohibited between Dec. 1 and March 1) again. Phoenix Photo races better with no shoes on and when Björn Goop was eager in his hunt for the lead, and succeeded as the race opened up with advantage for the leader. High On Pepper advanced to a position first over, but he couldn’t challenge and was a beaten horse at the top of the stretch.

Phoenix Photo cruised to a safe win in a mile rate of 1:54.2 over 1.3 miles and the Swedish V75-circuit is all about stories like this. Older horses can make ends meet even if the “big money” years, for young horses, are long gone.