The journey began exactly a month ago, when Bold Eagle and his caretaker Hugues Monthule boarded a horse van in the French countryside. The pair made its way to the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, flew into Toronto International on October 19, and was ensconced in the woodsy, overgrown Woodbine Mohawk Park backstretch by the first race on Breeders Crown elimination night.

Fast forward to 10 a.m. Sunday morning (Oct. 27), Pierre Pilarski, Thomas and Sabine Bernereau, and Francois Jamier sat around a high-top table near the front of the Quest Restaurant on the ground floor of the Hilton hotel in Mississauga. Situated about halfway between downtown Toronto and Mohawk, the hotel was quiet, save for a few families checking out and a handful of early risers enjoying the pool and hot tub, and only a few of the restaurant’s tables were occupied.

Outside, overnight downpours late in the preceding evening and early that morning gave way to gray, overcast skies. The sharp, cold air left flags in tatters and whipped open hotel doors as high winds gusted through the city.

Despite the dreary conditions, Bold Eagle’s connections sat looking relaxed and content. Bright-eyed and with smiles on their faces, they enjoyed each other’s company and cordially entertained the occasional visitors who offered congratulations, accolades, and thanks to the team who brought their champion trotter across the Atlantic to post a dominating victory in the Breeders Crown Open Trot only 11 hours before.

While the aftermath proved tranquil, the hours leading up to Bold Eagle’s victory were fraught with nerves and stress.

Bold Eagle arrived in the Mohawk paddock around 8 p.m. on race night and took his place in a stall in the northwest corner near the test barn. With his cotton-stuffed ears forward and head held up in the crossties, Bold Eagle stood quietly with a black-and-red cooler draped cleanly over his back as the finishing touches were put on his braided forelock.

As the time to warm up grew closer, though, the horse became animated. While longtime caretaker Monthule and trainer Sebastien Guarato began to pull equipment out of the black tack box positioned in the aisle just in front of the stall, Bold Eagle began lowering his head and pawing at the rubber-matted floor. Gentle pats on the shoulder, stern warnings, and kisses on the nose from Monthule helped stem the trotter’s eagerness, but Bold Eagle soon grew more excitable.

As Breeders Crown winners made their way past to the test barn, Bold Eagle fixed his gaze on them, extended his neck, and delivered deep, loud roars. His demonstrations intensified as the sophomore trotting fillies, stationed in the row across from Bold Eagle’s stall, lined up to head out to the track.

Jamier, an agent, the Bernereaus, co-owners, and Priscilla Navillod, Bold Eagle’s masseuse and dentist, joined Monthule and Guarato as Bold Eagle prepared for his warmup around 9:45 p.m. Absent from the group was Pilarski, who remained in the clubhouse.

“He was too nervous to come see ‘Bold,’” said Kim Gudmand, a Danish photographer and fan who has followed Bold Eagle around Europe since the trotter’s three-year-old campaign and has become close with the trotter’s owners. “He wanted to stay upstairs.”

“I was nervous, but it was not so much pressure from outside, it was more inside pressure,” Pilarski explained via translation by Jamier. “Now (Bold Eagle) is getting on the edge where he is not so easy in front like he used to be. We came over here, so of course there was some pressure.

“We arrived (Friday). We were pretty tired (Friday) night. We were at the racetrack,” Pilarski said. “We went to downtown Toronto (Saturday) to get lunch and we all tried to get time just to de-stress. But when we arrived here, we could feel the pressure.”

In the early years of Bold Eagle’s career, the trotter would warm up twice on race day, once with Monthule and once with his driver. Now, the eight-year-old is too excitable on the track and only goes for one light preparation with his driver.

Two races after winning a Breeders Crown with Winndevie and immediately after driving McWicked to a fourth-place finish in the Open Pace, Brian Sears met Bold Eagle in the paddock and headed out onto the track with him, led by Monthule and with the rest of the team in close pursuit.

The warmup was Sears’ first time taking the lines behind Bold Eagle and although he talked briefly with the connections in the days leading up to the race, there was little other prep work the Hall of Famer could do ahead of hopping in the sulky.

Sears took Bold Eagle one lap clockwise around the seven-eights-of-a-mile oval during a short break in the rain. Although high-strung, Bold Eagle quickly trotted up on the heels of two other joggers near the end of his lap and slowed to match their pace. Sears took Bold Eagle past the paddock and down the stretch, turned him, and went a short spurt at a quicker tempo before returning Bold Eagle to the hands of Monthule.

Sears hopped off the bike outside the paddock door and made a B-line for the front of the paddock, darting down a narrow alley formed by the building’s exterior and the parked starting gate. ‘The White Knight’s colours were tarnished with wet stone dust and the driver chomped furiously on a piece of gum.

“He was all right, pretty grabby,” Sears quickly commented before jumping in the bike behind Greenshoe and heading out for another heat.

After his warmup, Bold Eagle’s attitude changed again. After returning to his stall, Bold Eagle stood with all four feet planted firmly on the ground. Neck bowed and ears pinned back, the trotter put on his game face as the final preparations were made for his start.

Boosted by Bold Eagle’s work leading up to the race, Guarato had been steady all night.

The trainer felt confident his trotter would earn a cheque after training Bold Eagle over the Mohawk oval Thursday (Oct. 24)

“I was very satisfied and confident about the fact that he trained well,” Guarato said via translation by Jamier. “He handled the turns the right way and he was calm and relaxed and had good energy. I was confident to be one-two-three.”

A chink in Guarato’s armour of confidence finally showed as the trainer watching unnervingly as a ‘Go-Pro’ was affixed to one of the shafts of Bold Eagle’s sulky shortly before race time.

Only after being reassured that American History carried the camera in his Open Pace victory earlier in the evening did Guarato’s fixation on the device subside.

At 10:40 p.m., Guarato and Monthule were at work in Bold Eagle’s stall making the final preparations for the race. Sabine Bernereau found a seat on the edge of the tack box, while Thomas stood in front of the stall, hands shoved in his pockets, shuffling his feet.

Finally, Monthule unhooked the crossties and led Bold Eagle into the aisle. Guarato and Navillod hitched the brand new black-and-red Gorilla race bike to Bold Eagle’s harness and tightened the Go-Pro mount a final time. The Gorilla was one of two equipment changes that evening, replacing the Custom model bikes used by Björn Goop and Franck Nivard overseas. Bold Eagle would also race without an undercheck in the Breeders Crown.

“He has a tendency to play with it. It was the first time I took it off,” Guarato said.

Sears donned Pilarski’s black-and-red colours, slipped a yellow cap over his helmet, and adjusted his goggles before striding up to Bold Eagle. Tucking the whip under his right arm, Sears clipped the pull-cord for the earplugs in place near his left stirrup, took the lines in his brown-gloved hands, and then came the call from the judge crackling over the paddock’s loudspeakers.

“Bring ‘em out.”

Monthule led Bold Eagle to the paddock door, Sears hopped in the bike, and the trio made their way out.

While the rain had given way for Bold Eagle’s warmup, it returned with a vengeance for his race. In combination with high winds blowing down the stretch, the ‘monsoon’ delayed the start of the Three-Year-Old Colt and Gelding Pace as pylons floated up out of their moorings and blew into the centre of the track. Earlier in the evening, a wayward pylon forced a recall.

Such delays and recalls proved Bold Eagle’s undoing before the 2018 Elitloppet elimination.

Although there were no such hindrances before the Open Trot, Bold Eagle still appeared agitated in the post parade. He threw his head up and down, darted left, then right, and looked to the grandstand as something caught his eye.

Monthule watched from the porch outside the paddock, seeking refuge from the weather under the overhanging roof. Photographers, journalists, and fellow horsepeople – by now, friends – put their hands on his shoulders, hugged him, and wished him luck. Monthule politely accepted each, but his gaze never left his champion on the track.

Each time Bold Eagle passed in front of the paddock, Monthule hopped down from his perch and ran to the edge of the track, black-leather shank in hand, ready to lend assistance to Sears if needed. Once, he obliged and Monthule led Bold Eagle up the stretch, past the row of photographers before turning Bold Eagle loose again.

Monthule remained out on the track at the end of the line of cameras as Bold Eagle and his 10 rivals faced the gate for the Open Trot. Even as his competitors put their noses on the barrier, Bold Eagle lagged behind from his inside post position, throwing his head and jerking from side to side.

However, as he caught the gate, Bold Eagle picked up his head and put his nose to the wings. As the truck sped away, Bold Eagle trotted straight and true, quickest off the car for the first several strides before letting Atlanta, Guardian Angel As, and Lindy The Great dictate the tempo.

Reaching the backstretch, Sears yanked on the right line, tipping Bold Eagle’s face into the stiff wind. Bold Eagle glided up from a four and a quarter-length deficit to take the lead passing the half. Lindy The Great faded in the pocket while Six Pack tried to follow Bold Eagle’s move, but was left without cover, and Atlanta rode the pylons.

Bold Eagle straightened away with the lead as Six Pack continued to give chase and Atlanta angled wide. Sears turned the whip onto Bold Eagle’s hind end, and as easily as Bold Eagle left the gate, he put up two lengths in deep stretch. Sears took three glances over his right shoulder and on the last, realizing he could not be caught, raised his whip in victory. Bold Eagle trotted past the finish post with the plugs still in and his ears pricked as he completed the mile in 1:52.

A huge smile lit up on Monthule’s face and the caretaker thrust both arms straight up over his head as he part-ran, part-skipped, part-jumped up the stretch watching Bold Eagle cross the line.

In the clubhouse, Pilarski, the Bernereaus, and Jamier stood pressed up against the glass. They clapped, clamoured, and leaned as Bold Eagle neared the finish. Just like Monthule, the quartet threw their hands up as he crossed the line before embracing in a group hug.

The pent-up stresses of the evening were instantly lifted, and the heavy rains went unnoticed to the dozens of owners, friends, and fans of Bold Eagle who flooded the track on the way to the winner’s circle. Pleas of ‘clear the track, clear the track’ from the outriders as a new batch of horses started their warmups went unheeded as Bold Eagle returned to the winner’s circle.

Sears threw a Bold Eagle scarf around his neck, ‘Allez Bold Eagle’ and French flags flew, and smiles lit up the night as the cameras clicked away.

Back in the paddock, after completing the post-race testing procedures and getting cleaned off, Bold Eagle stomped around with his neck bowed and his ears pinned back, looking none the worse for his dominant display.

“I’m very, very happy for ‘Bold,’ just to get this race in his record. To come here and to win,” Pilarski said, looking over his champion. “It’s going to make all his fans very happy.”

Although Bold Eagle is most regarded for his victories in the French classics that are contested at a distance of 2,700 metres, Guarato praised the trotter’s abilities at the one-mile distance.

“The first time he went to Solvalla, he beat the European record. It was amazing. The first time he went to Solvalla, nobody saw that before, what he did there,” the trainer said. “The first time he’s come here, he’s a monster.”

The Breeders Crown Trot is Bold Eagle’s 46th victory and boosts his earnings to $5,692,680. It is the first North American win for the horse, owner, and trainer. Although Bold Eagle and Pilarski had never raced in North America before, Guarato sent Rapide Lebel to a second-place finish behind San Pail in the 2011 Breeders Crown Trot at Woodbine.

“I’m extremely satisfied and happy,” Guarato said. “This horse brings a lot of happiness to everybody. The last couple of months, he was maybe not as good as he used to be. But he’s still a champion and today, to win in front of everybody in North American is huge, huge.”

Bold Eagle travelled home to France on Friday, November 1. He will seek a third victory in the Grand Prix d’Amérique at Vincennes this January.

“The plan is to probably race every four weeks to prepare for the Prix d’Amérique,” Guarato said.” It depends on how he takes the trip back home, but he could race in the Prix du Bourbonnais (Dec. 8) or the Prix du Bourgogne (Dec. 29).”

The connections have since stated the December 8 race at Vincennes will be Bold Eagle’s next start.

The morning after their Breeders Crown win, as Jamier sat with Pilarski and the Bernereaus back at the Hilton, it wasn’t too early to dream about the future.

“Maybe we’ll be back next year,” Jamier teased with a smile.

(Breeders Crown)