After the defeat Sunday afternoon in the Prix de France, where Face Time Bourbon finished second, his regular driver, Björn Goop, was sacked by the main owner, Italian Antonio Somma.

Somma has long been unsatisfied with Goop as the driver of maybe the world’s best trotter at present, and just after the race, Somma wrote on Twitter that Goop was sacked.

Today Somma was interviewed on the French racing television channel Equidia and said that Sebastian Guarato, who trains Face Time Bourbon, was free to pick any of these five drivers in the future to drive the top trotter: Eric Raffin, Gabriele Gelormini, Yoann Lebourgeois, Matthieu Abrivard and Franck Nivard.

Sebastian Guarato had already made his choice and made it public, that Eric Raffin is the new driver of Face Time Bourbon.

“Raffin is an obvious choice,” Guarato said. “He has driven Face Time Bourbon twice in races and has won both times.”

Eric Raffin will drive Face Time Bourbon on March 6 in the Prix de Selection at Vincennes.

Björn Goop has driven Face Time Bourbon in 29 races and has 24 wins and four seconds.

On Jan. 31, Face Time Bourbon (with Goop) was an easy winner of the famous Prix d’Amerique for the second year in a row.