Wednesday (Oct. 30) was the first day of the prestigious Winter meeting at Vincennes, Paris, France.

The meeting runs until Feb. 29 and consists of 90 days of racing with 746 races. The total prize money is around $40 million.

The first race in the Winter meeting was won by the 7-year-old gelding Cleangame with trainer Jean Michel Bazire in the bike. Cleangame won the Prix des Cevennes over 1-3/4 miles in 1:55.4 (mile rate) and picked up a check for $45,000.

The highlight of the Winter meeting is, as usual, the Prix d’Amerique on Sunday (Jan. 26). This will be Prix d’Amerique number 100 and earlier this week it was announced that Case IH is sponsoring the race.

The qualifying races for the Prix d’Amerique will be raced on the following dates.

Nov. 17: Prix de Bretagne
Dec. 8: Prix du Bourbonnais
Dec. 22: Criterium Continental (winner)
Dec. 22: Prix Tenor de Baune (winner)
Dec. 29: Prix de Bourgogne
Jan. 12: Prix de Belgique