by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Newsroom Senior Correspondent

The 5-year-old Italian trotter Timone Ek, driven by Enrico Bellei, was a very popular winner of the Gran Premio Lotteria on Monday afternoon (May 1) at the Agnano track in Naples.

Gerard Forni photo

Timone Ek was a very popular winner of the Gran Premio Lotteria.

Locally-owned, but French-trained Timone Ek enjoyed a pocket trip behind leading stablemate Un Mec d’Heripre, driven by Jos. Verbeeck, and found racing room as Timoko, driven by Björn Goop, parked outside the leader, tired going into the stretch.

Timone Ek went past Un Mec d’Heripre to win in a new race record of 1:53.2f. Un Mec d’Heripre was second, while fast finishing Tesoro Degli Dei, driven by Gabriele Gelormini, was third. Timoko, who was the heavy favorite, finished fifth.

The Lotteria is raced with three eliminations, which were won by Un Mec d’Heripre, Timoko and Timone Ek.

Timone Ek picked up a total of $335,000. He is by far the best offspring in Europe sired by Mr Vic. Timone Ek has now earned $1.07 million and has 19 wins from 34 races.

Timone Ek is trained in France by Phillipe Billard, brother-in-law to former successful trainer Fabrice Souloy, who is serving a one year suspension from a positive test found in Swedish with trotter Lover face after a race in France.

Timone Ek has also tested positive for cobalt after a race in Norway in June last year, and this case is going to be heard later this month. The cobalt case also involves positive tests from other Fabrice Souloy-trained trotters: Un Mec d’Heripre, Lionel and Your Highness, who all tested positive in the Oslo Grand Prix 2016.