The overseas competitors for the $1 million International Trot at Yonkers Raceway touched down at roughly 7:20 a.m. on Wednesday (October 4) at New York’s JFK International Airport.

Midnight Hour (left) and Dreammoko (right) in their flight transport crate before being ‘vanned off’ (Photo courtesy Jelena Gerga)

The group f horses that arrived is comprised of (alphabetically, with country) Dreammoko (France), Midnight Hour (Finland), Oasis Bi (Italy), On Track Piraten (Sweden), Shadow Woodland (Finland), Tripolini VP (Denmark) and Twister Bi (Italy).

After landing, the horses were transported to Newburgh, NY for a couple days of rest, relaxation and quarantine. The seven horses are expected at Yonkers Raceway sometime around noon on Friday (October 6), housed in the Old Glory building as they prepare for the Saturday, October 14 event.

One of four transport crates being unloaded (Photo courtesy Jelena Gerga)

None of the two or four-legged travelling party seemed any worse for wear after the trip that began in Liège (Belgium) and included a roughly nine-hour flight of just over 3,700 miles.

Post positions for the 39th edition of the International – which will feature 10 trotters racing at a distance of one and a quarter miles – will be drawn during the afternoon of Tuesday, October 10 during a midtown press luncheon. Defending champion Resolve (USA), In Secret (USA) and Marion Marauder (Canada) will round out the stellar field, which will be the highlight of a New York harness-record $3.3 million purse program.

The program will be a a rare Saturday afternoon card, which will feature a first-race post time of 1 p.m. The International Trot, which will be carded as Race 9 on the 11-dash program, is expected to head to post at roughly 4 p.m. local time.

(With files from Yonkers Raceway)