The 8-year-old mare Iroise de la Noe won the Prix de France (1-5/16 miles) Sunday afternoon (Feb. 8) at Vincennes in dominant fashion with Thomas Levesque in the sulky, setting a world record of 1:51.3 (mile rate), ahead of Go On Boy and the favorite Francesco Zet.
After the disappointment in the Prix d’Amérique, where Iroise broke stride with Eric Raffin as the driver, Levesque chose to drive himself this time – a decision that proved to be the right one. Starting from the second row, he advanced on the outside with 1,200 meters to go and took the lead entering the homestretch.
Go On Boy finished second, while Francesco Zet – despite the fastest closing kick – had to settle for third place. The victory was worth €180,000, and the winning time of 1:51.3 is a new world record for older mares.
The win cemented the Levesque family’s strong tradition in the Prix de France, with three generations now having won the race. Thomas Levesque’s great-grandfather Henri Levesque won the Prix de France twice as a trainer, once in 1962 with Masina and again in 1979 with Hadol du Vivier, while his father Pierre Levesque won as both trainer and driver with Meaulnes du Corta in 2009 and 2010.