The Winter meeting — the highlight of French trotting — began on Thursday (Oct. 31) and will run until Saturday (March 1).
This year, Le Trot — the French trotting association — has slightly reduced the total prize money, which is 40,885,000 Euros — compared to 42,273,000 Euros in the last Winter meeting. This is a decrease of 3.28%.
However, the number of races scheduled for this year’s Winter meeting has decreased by no less than five, so the average prize money per race increases by 1.86% to 57,182 Euros.
A total of 715 races have been scheduled, divided into 532 sulky races and 183 mounted races.
In connection with the start of the Winter meeting, French trotting has introduced a rule that no horse may start more than 15 times without shoes within 12 months.
They have also changed the rules for qualification for the major races, Prix d’Amerique, Prix de France, and Prix de Paris.
From the four B races, the top four finishers qualify for these races, and from the Criterium Continental and Prix Tenor de Baune, they are the winners. This means that theoretically, the 18 places in the Prix d’Amerique can be filled in these six races — leaving no vacant places for horses with high starting prize money, which previously were sure to get in without having qualified in an earlier race.
The qualification races for Prix d’Amerique, etc., will be held on the following dates:
Nov. 17: Prix de Bretagne – 2700 m – 120,000 Euro
Dec. 8: Prix du Bourbonnais – 2800 m – 120,000 Euro
Dec. 22: Criterium Continental – 2100 m auto – 240,000 Euro
Dec. 22: Prix Tenor de Baune – 2700 m – 240,000 Euro
Dec. 29: Prix de Bourgogne – 2100 m auto – 120,000 Euro
Jan. 12: Prix de Belgique – 2850 m – 120,000 Euro
Jan. 26: Prix d’Amerique – 2700 meter – 1 million Euro
Feb. 9: Prix de France – 2100 m auto – 400,000 Euro
Feb. 23: Prix de Paris – 4150 m – 400,000 Euro