A combination of raw horsepower and skillful steering resulted in Bold Eagle successfully defending his title with an authoritative win in the 2017 Prix d'Amerique on Sunday at Hippodrome Paris-Vincennes.
With Franck Nivard at the controls, Bold Eagle was situated in the outer flow at the back of the pack for the early part of the 2,700 metre race with Univers de Pan (Philippe Daugeard) and Timoko (Bjorn Goop) taking turns on the lead. Nivard eventually advanced Bold Eagle into the three-wide path and managed to find his way to second-over behind Bélina Josselyn (Jean-Michel Bazire), who was first up and advancing on Timoko. When Bélina Josselyn started a three-wide brush to challenge the leader, Nivard prompted Bold Eagle to follow that advancing cover as the field approached the final turn.
Bélina Josselyn cleared to the lead over Timoko but faced the fresh threat of Bold Eagle, who was steered to rail around the turn before heading into the stretch. Nivard tipped out Bold Eagle and the trotter responded with long and powerful strides to trip the timer three lengths to the good over Bélina Josselyn, with Daniel Réden trainees Lionel (Matthieu Abrivard), Propulsion (Orjan Kihlström) finishing third and fourth, Briac Dark (David Thomain) in fifth and Réden's Call Me Keeper (Pierre Vercruysse) claiming third through sixth.
North American-owned Treasure Kronos was a non-factor, finishing ninth for Canada's David Goodrow and U.S.-based Jeffrey and Michael Snyder.
Bold Eagle now boasts 31 wins from 36 lifetime starts and $3.6 million (CAD) in purses for trainer Sébastien Guarato and owner Ecurie Pierre Pilarski. The six-year-old son of Ready Cash established a new world record, with a 1:54.3 mile rate over the 1-11/16 mile event. The former record was his 1:54.4 mile rate from the 2016 edition.
With the victory, Bold Eagle has guaranteed himself an invitation to the 2017 International Trot at Yonkers Raceway. He was invited to compete stateside in the 2016 Breeders Crown but his connections did not accept.