The Prix d'Amerique surely inspired me and I have found this old review of the 2014 event written on a thoroughbred site!

https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/a...-pulses-racing

We race the same breed here and just about everything the author highlights are true for us too so where are we going wrong?

Here is the first half of the article by John Gilmore

The numbers are quite staggering - €2 million ($2.7 million) race days, 30,000-plus crowds and a big race that brings thousands on an annual pilgrimage across Europe. Yes, trotting is big business in France, and several other European countries. John Gilmore, fresh from a day at the sport’s equivalent of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, explains what all the fuss is about.

While most racing fans around the world concentrate on the sleek, aristocratic Thoroughbred, the ordinary punter on much of mainland Europe prefers to wager on a different type of horse altogether - the high-stepping trotter, who pulls a driver in a lightweight two-wheeled single-seat sulky round the racetrack.

Betting revenue is the key to the prosperity of all horse racing, and trotting on mainland Europe is the most popular equine sport - accounting for 55 percent of total horse race betting turnover. From its humble beginnings, when Normandy stallions were crossbred with hunting stock, trotting has become an occasion that can attract 30,000 to an evening floodlit meeting.

The secret is its accessibility. Trotters, strengthened by judicious introduction of American bloodstock, can run to a greater age and more often than the fragile Thoroughbred. First running in two- or three-year-old races, their careers can last until they are 10. Thus the best become heroes to the betting public, who have more chance to get to know them. Races often take place on tight, all-weather round tracks - where those placing bets can see all the action all the time - and generally vary between 1,600 and 2,750 metres, although there are a few longer races.

From the latest European figures available, for 2012, France is far and away the leading trotting nation, with €239.2 million ($327.7 million) in prize-money (it was €118.3 million or $162 million on the flat) and 11,088 races run (against 4,878), at an average of €21,572 ($29,560) a race (against €24,253 or $33,233 for flat races).

Sweden is next with €83.24 million ($114 million) in prize-money (its flat horse racing total was €7.9m or $10.8 million) and 8,112 races (against just 668 flat races). France and Sweden have one thing in common - they both operate a successful lottery-type pool bet for a small stake. Even so, Sweden, with a population of approximately 9.6 million, has a remarkable return for racehorse funding.

France has 95 courses designated to trotting and 135 for flat racing. The top trotting venue is the 2,000-metre oval cinder track at Vincennes to the east of Paris. It holds 155 meetings every year and is the scene of Europe's most prestigious trotting race, the Prix d’Amerique, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe of trotting.

Run over 2,700 metres on the last Sunday in January, the Prix d'Amerique features the 18 leading European trotters. First run in 1920 and named as a tribute to American involvement in the First World War, it is watched by millions of TV viewers in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australasia.

The 2014 Group 1 Prix d’Amerique on Jan. 26 offered €1 million ($1.4 million) total prize-money, with €500,000 ($685,150) to the winner. The quality card also featured two Group 3 races and three at Group 2 level - for an overall prize-money allocation of €2.76 million ($3.78 million).

The race is a bit like the Grand National in England, with plenty of French people who don't normally bet placing a wager - usually in one of the café bars that litter the towns and cities. Total turnover on Prix d’Amerique day in 2014 was €38.6 million ($52.8 million).

I have said it before (including in my submission to HRV) we need a race at a set venue on a set date
which is an Event that engages the public's imagination and attracts a huge TV audience - as I put it in my submission 'Our Melbourne Cup' that captures the rank and file

If we promoted and telecast our showcase event to the high standards of the PdA we would make huge in roads on the gallops. Even streaming would do for openers for it would not be long before the broadcasters wanted a piece of it.

We have to make something happen instead of just being content with surviving. It may require some pain at first eg. reducing all prizemoney by 10% for a couple of years to fund it
But the pain would be short-lived if we pull it off

We sometimes have Harness admin and advisory council visitors to our forum - tell me you are thinking BIG

Admittedly Vincennes is virtually in Paris - not out at Melton or Menangle, I dont know if this has to be addressed first

I know Perth has Gloucester Park but with its smaller population and the fact that its distance from Melbourne and Sydney is 50-70% more than even Paris to Helsinki (plus east-west adding the problem of time difference), I do not know if they could pull it off for Australia - I will not rule it out, everything should be on the table

I hope I am not rambling on, it is just that the recent PdA has reinforced for me a lot of things I have long believed

ps Let's not just dismiss it as dreaming - if trotting can be bigger than gallops in Europe, why can't it make inroads here