The French, unlike the way they show themselves towards us, can also be very polite. Jean Michel Bazire lent himself to answering our questions, while keeping himself appropriately buttoned up. The Prix d’Amerique is not a Grand Prix like all the others, it is the ‘world championship of long reins’. Pretence is paramount, the stakes are gigantic: one million euros. The Bazire family will be present again this year to enrich and fuel a highly competitive atmosphere with Hooker Berry, who will be ridden for the occasion by enfant prodige Nicolas Bazire. The horse has already won the Amerique with his father on the sulky in 2023 thanks to a killer finish. Bazire jr is the youngest winner of this international competition to have won at the age of just 21. This time he will have the responsibility of beating the defending champion Idao de Tillard and the others. In 2022 he won as a navigated driver with Davdson du Pont. His father, on the other hand, has won it five times in his palmares: in 1999 with Moni Maker, in 2004 driving Kesaco Phedro, then in 2015 with Up and Quick, in 2019 with Belina Josselyn and finally with Hooker Berry in 2023.
Jean Michel, what horse is Hooker Berry and how is he?
He’s a pliant horse. He’s fine.
What will the shoeing be like?
He’ll be shod by four. Aggressive trim, like in 2023.
What do you expect?
We’ll have to see how the course turns out, but we believe in it.
What Amerique will it be?
It will be an open race unlike last year with
