For the first time since his victory in the 2025 Prix d’Amérique, Clément Duvaldestin was able to guide Idao de Tillard to victory at Vincennes on Sunday afternoon (June 21)—the pair won the Prix René Ballière after a tight battle down the stretch.
Idao de Tillard was making his first start since breaking stride in the Elitloppet final and was driven aggressively toward the lead—a new tactic from Clément Duvaldestin, who has normally driven the two-time Prix d’Amérique winner more patiently.
On the uphill section, Idao de Tillard came under pressure from Ibiki de Houelle, but he responded, while the challenger tired and finished last across the line.
Several horses challenged in the stretch, but Idao de Tillard held on to win ahead of Italy’s Free Time Jepson, driven by Andrea Guzzinati. Harmony du Rabutin, with David Bekaert, finished third. Idao de Tillard was timed in 1:56.2 (mile rate). The race distance was 1-11/16 miles.
Clément Duvaldestin was very active in the sulky behind Idao de Tillard in the stretch, and it earned him a 10-day suspension for his use of the whip.
There was €90,000 to the winner in this year’s Prix René Ballière, which had previously been a Group 1 race—and therefore, under French rules, excluded geldings from competing.
The race has now been changed to a Group 2 event, and four of the 12 horses in the field were geldings—the best of them was Horchestro with Éric Raffin, who finished fourth.
The day’s other major trotting race, the 3-year-old Prix Albert Viel over 1-11/16 miles, was won convincingly by Nocive du Choquel, a filly by Face Time Bourbon. François Lagadeuc drove for trainer Nicolas Bridault. With a winning mile rate of 1:54.3, she lowered the record set by Lombok Jiel two years ago by six-tenths of a second. The winner’s share was €90,000.
Second place went to Neo de Joudes (by Django Riff) with Éric Raffin, while Nayara (by Village Mystic) with Anthony Barrier took third.
It was a big-race day at Vincennes—Journée des Champions, or Champions Day—with four Group 1 races and one Group 2 event, offering total purses of €1.4 million.
However, because of the heat wave currently affecting France, the race day had been moved up so that the first race started at 8:30 a.m.
As a result, most of the 17,000 tickets sold or distributed in advance went unused, although 2,500 spectators still came to Vincennes for the high-quality race card.
Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) had expected a major drop in wagering handle—it ended up being 20%, bad enough, but it could have been worse.