by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Senior Newsroom Correspondent

The French trotting star, 10-year-old Timoko raced for the last time in his career Saturday night (Aug. 26) in France and went out on a winning note.

As no trotters older than 10 are allowed to race in France, Richard Westerink, owner/trainer of Timoko had decided that the prestigious Grand Prix du Departement des Alpes-Maritimes at Cagnes sur Mer should be the horse’s last race in that country.

Gerard Forni photo

Timoko, shown above winning this year’s Elitlopp, raced for the last time in France in Saturday.

Westerink knew the Cagnes sur Mer is one of Timoko’s favorite tracks as he had won all seven of his starts there. On Saturday, he improved that number to eight with Bjorn Goop in the bike.

Timoko stopped the clock in 1:51.1 and collected the $96,500 winners share of the $215,000 (180,000 Euro) purse. With the victory, Timoko, who is the richest French trotter ever, went past five million Euros in earnings – exactly 5.006.731 Euro – or $5.97 for his career,

Timoko will race again in early Sept. at the Wolvega track in The Netherlands.

In Sweden the Sundsvall Open Trot over 1-5/16 mile was raced at Bergsaker with a total purse of $1.25 million. Propulsion, driven by Ôrjan Kihlström, was the heavy favorite, but had to settle for third place.

Italian trotter, Ringostarr Treb, sired by Classic Photo and driven by Wim Paal was an easy winner in 1.54.2f ; Jerry Riordan trains Ringostarr Treb.