by Brandon Valvo, for the SOA of NY

Yonkers, NY — Although SOA of NY President Joe Faraldo oversaw the selection of the 24 trotters for the French American Trotting Club, even he was surprised when Alpha d’Urzy showed up to qualify Saturday (July 7) at Yonkers wearing only an open bridle, an ear hood, and trotting boots with no overcheck or poles. The trotter wears less equipment than any horse in trainer Rene Allard’s stable.

With his minimal equipment, Alpha d’Urzy led at every call of the 1-1/4 mile trial with Jason Bartlett in the sulky. He stopped the timer in 2:32.4 and posted a :29.1 final quarter, besting Aladin du Dollar by 4-1/2 lengths.

Alpha d’Urzy is an 8-year-old son of Opus Viervil out of Amazone River and sports a 6-for-56 record with €118,550 earned. He’s one of 22 French geldings who shipped to New York last month for the SOA of NY’s new series, which begins Aug. 5. Two of the 24 trotters were unable to make the trip to America as they got sick and were unable to pass the stringent quarantine testing requirements for importation.

The series required 24 participants to buy in at $28,000, with $25,000 allocated to purchasing the horse and $3,000 to travel. Trainers Ray Schnittker, Ron Burke, and Mike Lachance hand-picked the trotters and the horses were distributed to their new connections in a random draw.

Since Alpha d’Urzy’s arrival in mid-June, the gelding has trained two 1-1/2 mile trips. Both times, the trotter impressed without exerting himself.

Trainer Chris Oakes, who received 7-year-old trotter Bioness, has also enjoyed a very positive experience with his French trotter. The son of Sam Bourbon and Quiradelle D’hilly earned €119,590 in 40 European starts before shipping to the U.S. When he arrived at Oakes’ barn, Bioness drew comparisons to Oakes’ $1.2 million earning trotter Homicide Hunter.

“I love him, I absolutely love him, loved him right from day one,” Oakes said. “Big strong good-looking horse. I have a horse called Homicide Hunter and that’s who he reminded me of. Even when I trained him I told people, this horse reminds me of ‘Homicide.’ It’s funny because nobody knows what horse you’re going to get, you know nothing about any of them, other than you’re getting a horse. Rene came up and looked at him in the paddock at the qualifiers and he said, ‘this thing looks just like Homicide Hunter.’”

Oakes found Bioness to be good-gaited, good-mannered, and intelligent. Like Alpha d’Urzy, the trotter wears minimal equipment.

“I had no equipment card of any kind. Just a horse: four legs and a tail. You just feel them out as you go,” Oakes explained. “I could see he was sensible, so I ended up going with an open bridle. I could see the way he traveled, he didn’t need any boots at all. I just put a light set of trotting boots on and that was it. He’s very clean-gaited and wears next to nothing. I think we drew a nice horse.”

Oakes put Bioness into an American style of training and the gelding responded. Oakes also thinks ample time spent turned out has helped the trotter adjust to his new surroundings.

Bioness qualified last Wednesday (July 4) at Pocono with Oakes’ 20-year-old son Hunter in the sulky. It was Hunter’s first time in a charted race and he made his father proud.

Bioness tracked in third throughout the one-mile trial and came home in :28.1 to finish second, beaten just a neck. He was individually timed in 1:56.1.

On Tuesday (July 10), another of the French trotters, Traci Berry trainee Atout De Fountaine, is slated to qualify at Harrah’s Philadelphia with driver Pat Berry at the lines.

Yonkers will host qualifiers exclusively for the French trotters at the 1-1/4 mile distance July 14 and 21 ahead of the start of the French American Trotting Club Series Aug. 5. The second and third legs of the series will be held Aug. 19 and 26, respectively, and the $100,000 final is set for Sept. 2. For more information, click here.