Harness: Redemption for Idao De Tillard in Prix d'Amerique

Idao De Tillard, who broke stride as the favorite in last year's Prix d'Amerique, had no issues in this year's edition of the great race in Paris, taking the lead from first-over off the final bend and going on to win for the father/son training/driving team of Thierry and Clément Duvaldestin.

Joviality (Björn Goop) got away very well from the standing start and led early, but she would yield to sit in the pocket behind Hail Mary (Eric Raffin). Hail Mary would keep command from there, with Idao De Tillard racing three-wide and then crossing over into a two-wide and uncovered position.

While Hail Mary and Idao De Tillard raced side-by-side up front, defending champion Hooker Berry (Nicolas Bazire) swung out off cover to put in a bid on the last turn, but Idao De Tillard was going very well in front of him and put away Hail Mary before setting sail for home. Joviality also tipped out to try and chase down Idao De Tillard, but it was to no avail as Idao De Tillard edged clear to tally by a couple of lengths. Hokkaido Jiel (David Thomain) rallied up the inside and just nosed out Joviality for second, followed by Go On Boy (Romain Derieux) and Italiano Vero (Mathieu Mottier).

"I had a great time; it was really great. I fully appreciate how lucky I am to be associated with a horse like him," said the winning driver.

The final time was 1'11"6, a mile rate of 1:55 1/5. For comparison, last year's time by Hooker Berry was 1'11"7.

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This was Thierry Duvaldestin's third victory in the Prix d'Amerique, joining his successes with the great horse and sire Ready Cash in 2011 and 2012.

"I was scared, he was in a bad place. It's huge, I couldn’t dream of anything better. It's magnificent, it's crazy," offered Thierry Duvaldestin.

A 6-year-old son of Severino, Idao De Tillard was bred by Ecurie Chaunion and is owned by Cyril Sevestre. Idao De Tillard has 29 wins from 39 lifetime starts and has now earned 1,924,430 Euros.