Starting in late 2016, TROTBritain in association with Le Trot in France, imported consignments of three-year-old’s to race for huge purse money come September 2017.
Many horse owners took the plunge as management at the North Wales hard track, Tir Prince Raceway, decided to get behind the TROTBritain initiative and sponsor the race day final along with holding many of the preliminary Le Trot heats during the season.
Some were skeptical as to whether the prize money would ever really be as high as the figures being thrown around. They were very wrong.
This Saturday TROTBritain and LeTrot will host at Tir Prince, the Gold, Silver, Bronze and a consolation division for three-year-old trotters that will race for total prize money of £61,850 ($80,000 US), then adding the rest of the race card making total purses at just over £70,000, thus becoming the richest single race program ever held in the United Kingdom.
The LeTrot 3YO Gold Final will go for £30,000 ($39,000 US) with all eight starters getting prize money (also in the Silver & Bronze Finals), with £15,000 to the winner of the Gold Final. This will be the richest single race ever held in the UK or Ireland.
“It is so great that in over just two years the TROTBritain/LeTrot Program has worked out as well as we said it would,” said George Button of TROTBritain. “This Saturday is the icing on the cake as more and more people are getting involved in the TROTBritain/LeTrot program, buying race horses, mares for breeding and the program is growing by leaps and bounds.
“Everyone who purchased a three-year-old for the LeTrot series,” Button added, “has had an opportunity to race throughout the season and also this Saturday with the Gold, Silver and Bronze finals plus an additional consolation race. We want to thank management at Tir Prince for their support in hosting many of these races, especially Saturday’s finals, at their track.”
The draw for post positions for the 3-year-old LeTrot finals will take place live Saturday at 5pm at Tir Prince Raceway, hosted by the UK’s top horse racing commentator, Darren Owen, and Emmanuelle Morvillers, head of the International Development at Le Trot, the French Trotting Governing Body.
The Gold Final features eight starters, six fillies and two geldings, who will go behind the gate. The early favorite is the filly Equilea Du Hauty for trainer/driver Rhys Evans. She has four wins in her last five starts.
Another top performer is the filly Ecume De Mer, who has also won four of her five starts for trainer/driver Jak Fooy. She is also the fastest of the eight finalists with a record of 2:06.10 taken at York.
By TROTBritain and Tir Prince