He was presented as one of the pretenders to the Prix d’Amérique crown at the end of last year, but Aladin d’Ecajeul met with a failed attempt in the Critérium Continental on December 21st. However, Philippe Dewulf’s 5-year-old champion is capable of squaring up to his elders and looking them straight in the eyes and he will be trying to succeed Offshore Dream, the last 5-year-old to have won the race, back in 2007.
With a time of 34’2” in the last 500m of the Prix Octave Douesnel, Aladin d’Ecajeul gave a stunning performance at Vincennes on December 7th. After this, numerous specialists named him as favourite for the Prix d’Amérique Opodo 2015 – without him having even reached his fifth birthday. With his new status, his next race, the Critérium Continental, should have been nothing more than a formality for him. However, the son of Quaker Jet came in fourth and experienced one of the first disappointments of his fledgling career. It didn’t take long for his entourage to get over the disappointment and move on though, and they confirmed his entry for the Prix d’Amérique and took a bit of the pressure off themselves by the same token.
Aladin d’Ecajeul has been on the starting blocks since winning a race in the August when he was two years old and has been rising up through the ranks as quickly as he races ever since. From his first win in a Group II, the Prix Paul Karle, to being crowned as winner of the Critérium des 3 ans, 2013 marked his rise to power among the “A” generation of racehorses. The next year, he followed up impressively against 5 and 6-year-olds by winning the Prix de Sélection (Group I) and then coming second in the Critérium des 4 ans (Group I).
It follows, then, that this heady rise to success should bring him to the starting line of the world trotting drivers’ championships on January 25th.
After the victory of Roxane Griff in the Grand Prix de Cornulier, her driver Eric Raffin made his decision : he will be associated to Sebastien Guarato’s runner, now aged 10, in the Prix d’Amerique-Opodo. As a consequence, it is Matthieu Abrivard who will drive for the first time Aladin d’Ecajeul in the World Trotting Championship.
Aladin d’Ecajeul
5yo male
driver : Matthieu Abrivard
trainer : Sébastien Guarato
owner : Philippe Dewulf
11 wins including the Criterium des 3 ans and Prix de Sélection
