Bazire claims Prix d'Amerique with Hooker Berry

Hooker Berry supplied French trotting maestro Jean-Michel Bazire with his fifth Prix d'Amerique at Vincennes.

Favourite Idao de Tillard's quest to land the sport's most sought after prize ended prematurely when he was disqualified shortly after the start for breaking into a gallop.

Passing the leading group up the short straight Bazire played to the packed stands - raising his right leg in the sulky in triumph well before crossing the line on the 15-2 shot.

"Magnificent," beamed Bazire, who won his first Prix d'Amerique in 1999 with the mare Moni Maker.

"We were getting crowded going downhill and I said to myself 'I've got to get us out of here' and when we came out of the final turn I knew we'd won it.

"He did it so well, perfect!"

Italian raider Ampia Mede SM came in second with Italiano Vero third in the  field of 16 after two late defectors.

This was the 102nd edition of a race founded as a tribute to the American soldiers who fought in World War I.

The 2,700m showpiece with one million euros in prize money is harness racing's undisputed world heavyweight championship, drawing a crowd of 40,000 with bets of over 40 million euros wagered.

First run in 1920 at Vincennes, the hippodrome on the east of Paris, the Prix d'Amerique is trotting's equivalent to flat racing's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, staged across the French capital at Longchamp every autumn.