Message from
the Chairman

Dominique de Bellaigue, Chairman of the Société Cheval Français, organizers of the 87th Prix d'Amérique Marionnaud, cannot find the words to describe the greatest event in the horseracing calendar. He reflects on the talks between Brussels and Paris regarding the expansion of the sports betting market and gives us a few thoughts on the development of French Trotter breeding. The Prix d'Amérique Marionnaud is the apotheosis of a year and of a whole programme of events. The horseracing year starts with one Prix d'Amérique and ends with the next. It's the apotheosis of harness racing events worldwide in that it has the biggest purse thanks to the money received from punters' bets. For the punters and the public generally, it's a major festive occasion built around a race that remains the most visually spectacular, most prestigious and most important event on our calendar. Reputation calling for reputation, the last Sunday in January is therefore a key meeting place for men and women involved in harness racing. In a sporting programme such as ours, it's all a question of balance. The Prix d'Amérique Marionnaud is at the top of the ladder, which means that there are lots of rungs at lower levels. Although the allocations will be going up by 5% in 2008, the Prix d'Amérique purse will remain unchanged. Why? Simply because the purse for this major race increases spectacularly one year, then remains stable for the following seasons. However, a significant increase is actually planned shortly in order to preserve the balance that provides the basis of our programme.

A few years ago, we were up against the fact that the American trotter was bent on a world conquest via Sweden, which imported huge numbers of the animals, then Finland and Russia. People said at the time that it would be impossible to reverse the trend. Not me. I felt that if the French Trotter had been the major breed of the 19th and 20th century, there was nothing to stop it from becoming so again in the 21st century …
We had the wherewithal to fight the battle, such as the fact that Europe was authorizing races reserved for recognized, defined breeds. Likewise, we have kept a closed stud-book (a genealogical register of horses, Editor's note) . At the same time, we have signed several partnerships with certain countries (thirteen so far), where they breed French Trotter, where the offspring are registered in our stud-book, and where special races are reserved for the breed. In 2007, a European circuit of races for Group II-classified French Trotter even came into being. Since then, countries who used to import large numbers of American thoroughbreds have now turned to our horses, as they are faced with a major inbreeding phenomenon. The European Commission is asking us to backtrack on the law of 1891, which prohibited the system of fixed odds betting due to public order disturbances, let us not forget. It also considers that gambling is a services market, although the sector in France is different from anything that exists elsewhere.
We therefore hope that in future punters in France can continue to enjoy the same protection they receive today, as well as the same transparency and respect for the rules established by the mutualized betting system set up in 1891. When a bookmaker, for example, who knows the horses and is sometimes an owner himself, is offering fixed odds, he is naturally going to be dealing with a person who doesn't share that knowledge. It's much more than a matter of insider dealings, here. Hence our concern.