Having beaten Bold Eagle for a second time this winter, Philippe Allaire’s charge has serious claims next Sunday. Bird Parker is back on target at just the right time.
Scoring no less than four times abroad with Jos Verbeeck before returning to Vincennes, his 2017 ‘Tour Européen’ triumph heralded great things to come. Bird Parker belongs to that awesome ‘B’ generation, along with Bold Eagle, Billie de Montfort, Bélina Josselyn, Booster Winner and Briac Dark who all go to post in the upcoming 2018 Grand Prix d’Amérique. The versatile trotter has excelled both under saddle and in harness races at the highest level. The son of Ready Cash qualified at Grosbois in 2013 clocking 1’19’’0, but didn’t open his account until the sixth time of asking. That was in the Prix des Jacinthes 2013 at Vincennes Hippodrome de Paris, with Pierre Vercruysse at the helm. He later went on to finish 5th in the Critérium des Jeunes (won Billie de Montfort) before capturing his first career G2 in the Prix Félicien Gauvreau on his mounted début, then took Caen’s G1 Saint-Léger des Trotteurs in May. A month later, Booster Winner beat him in the Prix d’Essai, but he made amends during the subsequent Winter Festival in the Prix de Vincennes, bagging a second mounted G1 trophy, although he had previously gone offstride in Bold Eagle‘s outstanding Critérium des 3 Ans. Then in May 2015, with arch rival Bold Eagle on the touchline, Bird Parker finally hits the heights, scooping the 2015 Critérium des 4 Ans with Jos Verbeeck in the bike (an astonishing 8/10 wins together).
Jean-Philippe Monclin takes over at the helm
Teaming up with Bird Parker since the beginning of 2016, Jean-Philippe Monclin drove the Elisabeth Allaire-owned trotter to victory in Caen’s Prix des Ducs de Normandie and Enghien’s Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère. But it wasn’t until the 2017 Grand Prix du Bourbonnais that Bird Parker finally got back in the winner’s enclosure at Vincennes after a lean two year and seven month spell, before reiterating a few weeks later in the ‘Belgique’. And both times beating Bold Eagle! Driver Jean-Philippe Monclin recently declared: “Philippe Allaire is the key factor in his champ’s comeback who now gets off to far better starts than before. Considering the maestro’s current form (trainer of Sunday’s Grand Prix de Cornulier victory with another son of Ready Cash, Traders), I wonder what could prevent Bird Parker providing Philippe Allaire a first Amérique trophy next Sunday.”
