Ten horses from seven countries will contest the $US1 million Yonkers International Trot to be held at the half-mile Yonkers Raceway, New York, on Saturday afternoon (6am Sunday AEDT).
The invitational event will be raced over 1.25 miles (2.01km) and is the highlight of the 12-race International Trot Day card, which will also feature two $250,000 Invitationals – one for pacers and one for trotters.
Headlining the international challenge will be the French entrant Etonnant, winner of this year’s Elitloppet in Sweden, part of a haul that this year secured almost $1.2 million from 12 starts on seven different tracks in four different countries.
A son of the dual Elitloppet winner Timoko, who finished second in the 2015 International Trot and whose frozen semen is available from Haras Des Trotteurs, Etonnant has won 20 of his 81 lifetime starts and earned more than $2 million.
Ecurie D, who was bred in Denmark, developed in Norway, owned in Sweden and trained in North America, is the reigning Breeders Crown Open champion and the fastest trotter in America this year at 1:49.2.
Back Of The Neck, a stablemate of Ecurie D and winner of the Maple Leaf Trot in Canada, and Its Academic will carry the flag for the host nation.
Norway will also be dually represented with Cokstile, the 2020 Elitloppet winner, and the Oslo Grand Prix victor Stoletheshow.
The Italian entrant Zacon Gio, the winner of the most recent Yonkers International in 2019, will be back to defend his title.
The Danish-bred 12 year-old Tycoon Conway Hall, one of the fastest horses in Europe earlier this year, Kennedy (Sweden) and Lovedbythemasses (Canada) complete the elite 10-horse field.
The race was first conducted in 1959 and has been won by the who’s who of world trotting including Mack Lobell, Peace Corps, Delmonica Hanover, Speedy Crown, Speedy Scot, the Canadian mare Armbro Flight and the French champions Ideal Du Gazeau, Une de Mai and Roquepine.
The Victorian square-gaiter Sparkling Success earned an invitation to the Yonkers International in 2018 following wins in the Great Southern Star and Aldebaran Park Maori Mile, but a serious front leg injury forced connections to scrap plans.