The French trotter Idao de Tillard, aged 6, favorite party, driven by Clément Duvaldestin, won with authority on Sunday in Vincennes the 103rd Prix d’Amérique, becoming the new harness trotting world champion, with an air of revenge.

Idao de Tillard beat on the classic course of 2,700 meters, the French outsider Hokkaido Jiel driven by David Thomain who came second. Third place went to the Swedish horse Joviality led by Björn Goop.

After a difficult start, the eighteen best trotters on the planet set off, cheered by a crowd of spectators gathered in the stands to witness the largest harness trotting race in the world.

Never far from the leaders, halfway through, Idao de Tillard bided his time in a good place at the rope. He carried out a decisive attack 500 meters from the goal to move towards an easy success.

“It’s great, I had a blast. I am delighted. He’s a big crack, when you have a horse like that it’s just happiness. I am lucky to have come across such a horse,” declared Clément Duvaldestin who won his first Trotting Holy Grail.

His father Thierry Duvaldestin, who trains the new king of Vincennes, declared: “we had some setbacks in the preparation of the horse but everything is back to normal. I told my son Clément have confidence in your horse. He kept his speed reserve as long as possible. It’s huge,” he commented very moved. “I couldn’t have dreamed of anything better. It’s a horse that I spotted, that I qualified and Clément didn’t tremble,” added Thierry Duvaldestin, the professional who shaped the legendary Ready Cash.

Idao de Tillard was purchased for 27,000 euros in 2019 by Cyril Sevestre who joined forces with Thierry Duvaldestin.

Thanks to his victory, the athletic horse with a bay (brown) coat offered his owner Cyril Sevestre the sum of 450,000 euros promised to the winner out of the million total allocation distributed between the first seven.

“It’s crazy to win the Prix d’Amérique. I’m a racer. I’m not a big landlord. We are on the first step of the podium. I hope it will make others want to invest in horses!” he said.