by Gordon Waterstone

With it being nearly four months since the Red Mile Grand Circuit meet concluded, I was getting antsy to write a new Backstretch With Gordon column. With input from my agents Amy Hollar and Nick Salvi, a deal was secured with Dave Briggs to do a special January edition.

Something happened though on my way to the nearby Red Mile as I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because I ended up more than 4,000 miles east in Paris, France.

But that turned out not all that bad as I landed in Paris on Prix d’Amérique weekend.

Truth be told, this trip was planned well in advance, and while there were some hiccups in my first-ever journey outside of North America, I arrived on the continent early Friday morning (Jan. 24).

I can easily sum up my experience with one word: Wow! What a fun time it was watching in person the famed 1,000,000 Euro Prix d’Amérique trotting classic. And I’ll get back to that in a bit.

I wanted to title this column with the French translation of Backstretch With Gordon but that became problematic as I learned no tracks in France — and there are a lot of them — have a backstretch. But let’s pretend there were barns at the tracks. Hence, it would be something close to Les granges de l’hippodrome avec Gordon.

I had no idea what to expect in France and after a day on Friday getting acclimated and hanging with my primary travel companions of Tom Charters and Judy Davis-Wilson and her daughter Diane, I prepared myself for two days of harness racing activities.

I met up with Tom early Saturday morning and we got an Uber ride to the famed Grosbois Training Centre where we were to meet the resident historian Alain. After a 30-minute trip we were met by a delightful young lady named Manon, which she said translated to Marie in our language. Speaking of language, I pretty much had no idea what was going on my entire time in France as I probably know only about five easy words in French.

Manon, who is Alain’s assistant, told me she had to give up jump horses when she broke her back as a teenager. She spoke English pretty well as she gave Tom and I a private tour of the Grosbois museum. What a jewel the museum was as we were able to experience the entire history of French racing.

After we toured the museum amongst many other visitors, Manon took Tom and I into the cellar where the archives of books and racing programs dating back to the 1800s were housed. Picture yourself walking down a precarious number of steps into a cold, dark basement, and you will understand why Tom and I both were afraid we might never be seen again. We got a bit more nervous too when Manon told us they had a problem at one time with bats triggering the alarm system.

We then met up with Alain, who was with a trio from Quebec. We introduced ourselves and then Alain and Manon took us on a private tour of the castle, which included stops in huge rooms filled with hundreds and hundreds of books.

After a couple of hours touring, Tom and I headed to Hippodrome de Vincennes. Manon bid “au revoir” while Alain was our ride to the racetrack.

We made it to Vincennes just as the first race was ready to go. Alain had a private parking spot inside the bowels of Vincennes, and as we got out of the car, we were greeted by famed French horseman Pierre Levesque.

Tom, Alain and I made it to our table and we were soon joined by Henrik Lindell, who had made his way to France from Sweden, where he primarily works for a fiber optics company as well as serving as a judge at two Swedish tracks.

Trainer Jerry Riordan, who left the U.S. 20 years ago to ply his trade in Italy, also joined us. I hadn’t seen Jerry in all those years and wasn’t sure he’d remember me, but he did. He obviously remembered my days as publicity director at Hazel Park through the 1980s until the mid-90s when I left Michigan to work for Boss Kathy at The Horseman And Fair World, as he immediately started taking about the NBA’s Detroit Pistons “Bad Boys” teams of the ’80s.

Pierre Levesque came by the table to chat, noting to me that his father, Henri, won the Prix d’Amérique three times, following the five wins in the 1960s by his father, Henri.

Swedish agent Robert Lindstrom came over to say hello, and since I’ve already met him a couple of times in Lexington, it was nice to see him. Swedish trainer Jorgen Westholm also stopped at our table to say hello to Alain. Jorgen introduced himself to me and told me he had a horse racing on Sunday after the Prix d’Amérique. He also told me he thought Working Class Hero, the favorite in the race, would likely win.

After having lunch, Henrik, who has experience with attending the Prix d’Amérique, took me on a tour of Vincennes. I was stunned by how big the grandstand is. Henrik took me from one end to the other end, including a stop in the massive paddock.

Henrik noted that the horses racing were not segregated by race, but instead by trainer. I’m so glad I made the paddock trip on Saturday as Sunday was a different story. While we were heading back inside, Swedish photographer Adam Strom came running over to say hello.

My main group expanded on Sunday as fellow Kentuckian Elizabeth Caldwell, Callie Davies-Gooch, Norwegian Tina Brauti and Lisa Riordan joined us for the shuttle ride to the track. A lot of traffic near the venue told me that despite rain there would be a huge crowd.

I was correct as the place was packed. We were all seated in the dining room and after the second race there was an on-track show that U.S racetracks should try and duplicate.

There were cheerleaders and bands and parading horses and fireworks. The 18 drivers in the Prix d’Amérique then arrived in separate cars to a huge ovation from the crowd.

Also coming out of a car holding the prized trophy was Teddy Riner, a five-time Olympic Gold medal champion in judo from France. He obviously is well known in France as he greeted the nearby fans with high-fives and handshakes.

One thing I should note here is that after every race a big clock starts counting down from 30 minutes until the following race. That timespan was about 90 minutes between races 2 and 3 as the entertainment continued.

I sat at a table with Callie and Paul Minore and his wife, Sharon. Paul had driven in an amateur race on Saturday, finishing eighth.

After eating lunch I made my way downstairs to go to the paddock and see the horses up close and personal. I squeezed my way through the masses but once I reached my destination it had started to rain harder. So, I traipsed back to the dining room, which again was not an easy trip.

As you know by now the Prix d’Amérique was won by the French owned and trained Idao De Tillard for the second year in a row. It was a huge effort for the trotter to win from the outside post 18 — which did not deter the bettors as late money made him the favorite — after a recall caused by horses hooking wheels at the start.

After the race, the celebration included the playing of France’s national anthem. My group then fought its way through the masses to find our shuttle back to the hotel.

By the way, Tom Charters had also been told by the trainer to play Working Class Hero, so he stopped to make a wager on our way out. I wasn’t smart enough to do the same as Working Class Hero indeed did win, returning $4.20.

We all later went to a restaurant which had been reserved by the Hambletonian Society. Yes, the entire restaurant had been reserved so our group of about 40 filled the place. Included among the attendees was more Americans, including Tom Grossman and Pete Spears, who served as co-hosts.

My table had a Bluegrass feel as joining Elizabeth and I were Steve and Cindy Stewart — yes, my gracious Backstretch sponsors for The Red Mile columns. Also at my table was Tina and Henrik. Sitting at the next table was the USTA’s Mike Tanner and his wife, Gayle.

I was most impressed that several Trot Francais officials, including president Jean-Pierre Barjon and director of racing Emmanuella Morvillers were there. I had met Emmanuella earlier in the day and she came over to me to ask my impression of the day.

My answer was that same one word I noted earlier: Wow! I asked her the attendance and she said more than 36,000. As I write this, a couple days after, I’m still not sure of the betting numbers, although I saw races easily topping $1 million when checking my Twin Spires betting app.

As I wrote earlier, U.S. racetracks should pay close attention. Round up local high school cheerleaders and bands, paying them with a donation to the school. Horses for show should also be able to be found. And a small pyrotechnics display is easy.

I left Paris overwhelmed by the experience. I still can’t stop hearing the announcer doing constant interviews with fans during the race card, and repeating “oui, oui, oui” over and over. And I keep hearing the horn blow whenever a horse made a break during a race.

Finally, it’s time for the price of gas, or essence in French. It was 1.91 a litre, so with the conversion it translates to $7.53 a gallon in U.S. dollars.

I’ll see you in September at The Red Mile. Merci for reading.