by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Newsroom Senior Correspondent

The prestigious French winter meeting at Vincennes is up and running and over the next three months purses totaling $55.5 million will be up for grabs.

The winter meeting started Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 29) and will conclude February 28; during that time 725 races will take place on 88 race days. The average total purse money per race is an impressive $76,500 and in France you normally don’t pay any starting fee at all.

The main event, the Grand Prix d’Amerique, will be raced on Sunday (Jan. 25) and as in previous years it will carry a total purse of $1.25 million.

This year Maharajah of Sweden won the race and he returned to action last night at Solvalla in a race called the Owners Trophy, which he won last year. Maharajah had not raced since the victory in the Prix d’Amerique and was the even money favorite.

After a tough race, Maharajah, with Ôrjan Kihlström in the bike, had to settle for third.

Today’s news in Sweden is that top trotter Mr Picolit will join the stable of Ake Svanstedt in the United States.

Svanstedt trained Mr Picolit in Sweden and developed him into a top trotter. Most notable was the victory in the Copenhagen Cup. Mr Picolit, who is sired by Scarlet Knight, has earned around $500,000 and has a mark of 1:52.

Mr Picolit had a banner year in 2013, as he won $250,000, but this year he only has earnings of $30,500.