by Thomas Hedlund

Jean-Michel Bazire sat behind his — or to be correct — his son Nicolas’ Liza Josselyn (Ready Cash) in the $125,000 Prix Uranie  for 3-year-old fillies at Vincennes on Friday (Oct. 25) night. And the well-bred trotter showed that she is near the top of the French L-crop.

Jean-Michel had a cool start with Liza Josselyn and from a position far back in the field, the three-wide attack was set in with a half-mile to go. Liza Josselyn disarmed the leader 300 meters later and when Jean-Michel asked for a little bit more, she flew away from her opponents and hit the wire in a strong mile rate of 1:53.4 over 1.3 miles, which was totally outstanding.

Replay here.

In the $125,000 Prix Victor Regis for 3-year-old colts, Lombok Jiel (Enino du Pommereux) continued to prove that he is one of the best 3-year-old horses. Lombok Jiel finished second to Lovino Bello in the Criterium des 3 ans earlier this fall, but he has collected some prestigious trophies in Paris already before Friday’s race. Lombok Jiel won in 1:58.3 over 1.3 miles.

Replay here.

Vincennes is getting prepared for another winter meeting. The Paris track opens the gates on Oct. 31 and the meeting ends on March 1 2025. In between, there will be some 715 races, distributed on 72 cards with approximately $45,000,000 in total purses offered.

November 17 is the first date for a qualification race ahead of Prix d’Amérique and news about the four ”B-races” is that the top four horses in each event will get a ticket to the Prix d’Amérique. Previous years have offered the three best horses in the B-races a spot in the big Grand Prix. 

Horsy Dream, winner of Elitloppet and the Åby World Grand Prix this season, risks to miss the meeting in Paris due to problems with a hind leg.

MORE FRANCE

Ten-year-old Emeraude de Bais (Repeat Love) got a perfect pocket trip behind leader Just Love You in Wednesday’s (Oct. 23) $220,000 Grand Prix du Sud-Ouest in Agen and when driver Franck Nivard got racing room at the stretch, the old lady sprinted to a safe win in a mile rate of 1:55.4 over 1.6 miles.

A FAIR DAY ON TOP IN MALMÖ

Amateur trainer Elisabeth Almheden and her A Fair Day (Maharajah) have become a true fairytale in Swedish harness racing. The 5-year-old A Fair Day was invited to Elitloppet in May, an extraordinary experience for an amateur and the connections around A Fair Day continued to aim high, in some of the biggest races in Sweden during the summer. 

But success stayed away until Saturday’s (Oct. 26) $80.000 C.L.Müllers Memorial at Jägersro, when A Fair Day for once got a nice post position facing older elite trotters. Post 2 behind the gate meant that A Fair Day hit the lead and when driver Oscar Ginman was allowed to drive slower than the best cold blooded trotters in the middle of the race, the victory was close. 

A Fair Day sprinted to a safe win in a mile rate of 1:57.2 over 1.6 miles.

On the other side of the Baltic Sea, in Kouvola, Finland, Knight Rider Hoss (Scarlet Knight) took an easy wire-to-wire win in the $100,000 Kymenlaakso-Ajo for 3-year-olds. Olli Koivonen sat in the bike.