He has a very personal story with the Grand Prix d’Amérique. The race that makes all fans and Trot professionals dream. Eric Raffin, full driver, will be at Valko Jenilat’s sulky in the biggest race in the world.
January 28, 1990. Eric Raffin is 8 years old. At his side, his elder brother Olivier. Nearly 30,000 spectators at Vincennes Hippodrome in Paris came to applaud King Ourasi for his incredible attempt at a fourth victory in the Grand Prix d’Amérique. But the two brothers have eyes only for Pussy Cat , the mare trained by their father Jean. And when it propels the champion at the head of the race in the descent of Vincennes, just under the eyes misted of his two sons, the thrill is immense, the feeling unforgettable. “We were already in tears to see the mare of our father at the head of a Prix d’Amérique, it’s still a great memory of a kid, a moment left engraved for life” remembers Eric Raffin with emotion.
5 Golden stirrups to his name
It is the click, and he may be very comfortable with his feet and a round ball, the young Eric will use his hands especially: he wants to become a racing driver. In his family home, in the heart of the Vendée region dear to Raffin where the grandfather launched what will become a great saga horse, Eric feeds his ambition and proves that he has in him this little extra that can not be explained not. Genetic inheritance? Innate learning after years spent on the edge of the track to see his father and big brother stand out in the race? Motivation to do even better than Olivier, crowned best apprentice of France? All at once ? Go know, in any case, the young man is talented, very talented. His position on horseback and his hand in a velvet glove mixed with his taste for competition make him a staple of platoons for nearly ten years already! At the end of the prestigious successes in the two specialties of the trot, the mounted and harnessed, evidence of its eclecticism. A versatility rewarded by Golden Stirrups (five in total) and especially the combined (harness + mounted), a title he conquered again in 2017, for the fourth time in his career.
Roxane Griff, his heart mare
If the Grand Prix d’Amérique is not yet on his list, in his heart, it’s just like. In 2012, he finished second behind the Ready Cash phenomenon, in the sulky of Roxane Griff , mare with which he also won the Grand Prix de Cornulier, the equivalent of the Grand Prix d’Amérique to the mounted. A champion in her image, complete, generous and competitor unparalleled. In the sulky fight Valko Jenilat , winner of the Grand Prix de Bretagne, the first qualifying stage for the EpiqE Series Finals, Eric Raffin could also negotiate Sunday, January 28 the descent of Vincennes in the lead, as his father John 28 years ago. In turn, it will be traversed by the thrill, he secretly dreams to last until the finish post.
