The World According To Dean: Opal Viking is the fresh face in France

If it's Saturday, it must be the Belgique.

Today a field of the best trotters in Europe will strut their stuff in the Prix de Belgique at the Hippodrome de Vincennes just outside Paris. It's the final prep race for the Prix d'Amerique, the greatest spectacle in trotting. That will be held on Jan. 25

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There are 13 trotters in the Prix de Belgique and we don't know if that will prove lucky or unlucky for the favorites, who are sure to be the stablemates Meaulnes du Cora and Offshore Dream from trainer Pierre Levesque's barn. They'll be the home team favorites against Exploit Caf of Italy and Opal Viking from Sweden.

Those four trotters may not win because they'll start with a 25-meter handicap behind the other nine starters in the race over 2,850 meters (or 2,875 for the handicapped horses).

Meaulnes du Corta and Offshore Dream finished 1-2 for trainer Pierre Levesque in the last prep race for the Prix d'Amerique and you have to like their chances from here. Offshore Dream has won the last two Prix d'Ameriques and Levesque will drive him while giving the lines on Meaulnes du Corta to Franck Nivard, a top driver in France.

Exploit Caf may be bred in Italy by Toss Out, a son of Supergill, but he's got a French trainer and driver. And the driver is the sulky wizard Jean-Michel Bazire. It's foolhardy to dismiss Bazire in any race over any track.

The wild card in the Belgique is Opal Viking, who has been camping out in Italy since last summer and racing extremely well for his ace Finish driver Jorma Kontio. While Offshore Dream, Meaulnes du Corta, and Exploit Caf have seen each other often in recent races, Opal Viking is an intruder. He was, however, second to Offshore Dream in the 2008 Prix d'Amerique, so he's a contender for certain again this year.

Opal Viking once again demonstrates the power of inbreeding in trotters. He is a son of Turnpike Taylor, a Meadow Road stallion out of a Speedy Somolli mare. Opal Viking's dam was sired by Lord Of All, a brother to Speedy Somolli.

French horsemen are known to play a little cat-and-mouse in these preps for the big show. The handicap gives some of the best horses an excuse not to crack the top three, and it's known that some use the prep races as mere training efforts for the Prix d'Amerique. You can be sure they'll be trying 100 percent in that race.

The Prix d'Amerique will have 18 starters, so you'll see a few fresh faces when the field for the Jan. 25 classic is announced. One of them is sure to be the 5-year-old mare Qualita Bourbon from the stable of the legendary French horseman Jean-Pierre Dubois. She will be starting tomorrow in the Prix de Croix for younger horses and her stablemate Infinitif will also be in the race. Dubois himself will drive Infinitif while Jos Verbeeck will handle Quality Bourbon.

So the excitement is building for the big day when the Prix d'Amerique is held. I'll be in Paris with a group of Canadian and American trotting devotees who are part of tour of Paris and the whole trotting scene. We should have a grand time and I know we'll see a grand race.

Dean Hoffman, one of North America's most prolific harness racing journalists and member of the U.S. Harness Racing Hall of Fame, offers SC website readers his weekly look at international standardbred racing through his eyes.