The top French trotter, 5-year-old Idao de Tillard, won the first big event in the Winter meeting at Vincennes, Paris, France, the Group 2 Prix Marcel Laurent.

The Winter meeting at Vincennes is on and Thursday (Nov. 9) some of the future big stars in French trotting met in the Prix Marcel Laurent, a Group 2 race over 1-5/16th miles and with a total purse of 120,000 Euro.

Thierry Duvaldestin-trained Idao de Tillard with his son, Clement Duvaldestin, in the bike was the heavy favorite and fulfilled the expectations with an easy win in 1:54.1 (mile rate) followed by the mare Inmarosa with Alexander Prat and Ideal Ligneries with Francois Lagadeuc.

In this year’s Prix d’Amerique, Idao de Tillard was the second favorite, but finished unplaced.