As the Tour de France did last summer, the Grand Prix d’Amérique celebrates its 100th anniversary on Sunday. This is an opportunity for us to return to the origins of the biggest race of the year.
Created in 1920 by the French Horse Breeding Company, the Prix d´Amerique, officially called the Grand Prix d’Amérique since 2013, has its origins in a context combining history, politics and sport. It’s a question for French racing players of paying tribute to the decisive commitment of the Americans during the First World War.
Knowing the importance of the horse at the time, as a transport aid, and its contribution to the victory over the Germans, the gesture simultaneously had a political dimension. In the same year, the French galloping authorities also created a major international race with the same international ambitions, a certain Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Because the Prix d’Amérique has the challenge of confronting the best international elements, in particular French and American in a context of improvement of the two races – the French Trotter and the American Standardbred. The entire national livestock industry is thus faced with an annual challenge vis-à-vis its US counterpart.
As for the sporting dimension, it is obvious. Each year since its creation, the Grand Prix d’Amérique has brought together the best trotters in the world, thus consolidating the place assigned to it from its creation, that of a World Trotting Championship.
