by Brett Sturman 

Only once since the modern return of the Yonkers International Trot has a horse representing the United States captured the event when Resolve won in 2016, but this year the domestic horses look more imposing than the international invaders.

I’ll add a caveat for the preceding statement that for purposes of this column, Jiggy Jog, who will race for Sweden, her place of foaling, is considered part of my group of U.S.-based contenders.

The complexion of a strong European contingency to a lesser one began to change a few weeks ago. That’s when last year’s exciting winner Vivid Wise As from Italy, a now 10-year-old with close to $4 million in career earnings by this point, announced his withdrawal from the International in August. Two weeks after Vivid Wise As made an uncharacteristic break in the $320,000 Hugo Abergs Memorial in Sweden on July 30, it was reported that the horse was sick and would be unable to compete in the International to defend his championship.

Vivid Wise As was to be replaced by Italian trotter Capital Mail, who raced in this year’s Elitloppet. But he withdrew from the International less than one week after accepting an invite following a positive blood test as reported by Swedish trotting media, Travronden.

I hate to sound like an American columnist ignorant to European racing, but from my view the most formidable international contender — maybe, truly, the only one — is Hail Mary, an 8-year-old son of Googoo Gaagaa. Hail Mary will come to the U.S. with a distinguished career as a multiple Group 1 winner with earnings over $1.6 million lifetime.

If Hail Mary had raced in the International last year I’d have liked his chances even more. This time last year he was coming off an impressive first-over win in the Group 1 Hugo Abergs Memorial at Jagersro, and that was a race that produced next-out Yonkers International winner, Vivid Wise As. Also, in that same race came another Yonkers International Trot starter from last year, Hierro Boko. But things haven’t been quite as fortunate this year.

Hail Mary gave it a pressured try on the front end in this year’s Prix d’Amerique at Vincennes in January and backed away once in the stretch from his efforts. Most recently in this year’s Hugo Abergs, Hail Mary tried to attack early from the 2-hole and ended up getting into a speed duel while parked for at least a quarter-of-a-mile which did him in. As a side note, which could spice things up in the older trotting ranks for the rest of the year, Hail Mary will remain stateside and be trained by Ake Svanstedt following the Yonkers International.

The lone European contender returning to Yonkers from last year’s edition is Denmark’s Get A Wish. I remember him from that time and probably still view him the same this time as one of the outsiders. He’s shown his high-level potential at times but I feel he would need a career performance with some racing luck to land the top spot.

He did race earlier this year in the ABY World Grand Prix in a race won by Horsy Dream who also won this year’s Elitloppet and he may get some play for entering the Yonkers International off a runner-up finish in the Group 1 Hugo Abergs Memorial. The only thing worth noting is that he had the perfect trip right in behind the duel between Hail Mary and Click Bait but couldn’t reach the leader as part of a blanket of horses for the minors.

After those two horses, are two representing France, Eclat De Gloire and Ideal San Leandro. Each accomplished in their own rights, but they don’t quite hold up to last year and 2022’s entrant from France, Etonnant (though both his trips to Yonkers turned out to be ill-fated ones). The same can be said for Italy’s Vernissage Grif, who doesn’t seem to rate as high as last year’s Italian entrants Vivid Wise As or even Bengurion Jet. Castor The Star will complement Hail Mary (and Jiggy Jog) from Sweden and last month won the Aby Sprint Grand Prix.

Ironically, the likely horse to beat is Periculum. He’s a horse that was bred in the U.S. and was a stakes winner here at 2 and 3 before racing as a 4-year-old in Sweden last year. He’s now returned back to North America for the 2024 racing season and, when picking up Scott Zeron as a new driver, has put up back-to-back career speed performances, the most recent of which was a 1:50.4 authoritative score in Saturday’s Maple Leaf Trot.

Jiggy Jog has been the top performing older trotter throughout this year and the mare will get another shot in the Yonkers International Trot. Last year Dexter Dunn worked out an amazing 2-hole trip from post 9 behind Vivid Wise As and did well to finish second despite gapping slightly and not materializing into a serious late threat to the winner.

It’s Academic rounds out the U.S. entries and comes off a tiring try in his Maple Leaf Trot elimination two weeks ago; a case could be made he was sharper when entering this race last year when he finished fourth after making a big three-wide move from the back of the pack. Logan Park will be Canada’s chance for Yonkers International Trot glory and he exits a third-place finish in the Maple Leaf Trot. I’d rate him on par or maybe higher than Fashion Frenzie who represented Canada last year.

The European horses have been strong in recent years at Yonkers so it’s hard to say if the horses sent this time around indicates an off-year or the start of a trend. Along that theme, horses represented seven different countries in last year’s Yonkers International Trot and now come from just five unique countries. However, this year’s Prix d’Amerique didn’t feature any horses from outside of Europe for that matter, so maybe attracting horses across continents is reflective of a larger dynamic.

In any case, the Yonkers International Trot will be compelling as usual due to the international flair, the emergence of Periculum and his anticipated battle with Jiggy Jog. And, of course, if one of the European horses do happen to win then I’ll have to eat my words.