by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Prix d’Amerique winner Bold Eagle, driven by Eric Raffin and ex-pat Cruzado Dela Noche were two very impressive winners in Europe Thursday (July 21).

Bold Eagle raced at the Les Sables d’Olonne near the French Atlantic Coast and won in a new track record of 1:54.4 (mile rate) over the 1-3/4 mile distance. Bold Eagle won by open lengths and down the stretch Raffin was waving to the public, trying to get them to applaud the fantastic trotter.

The purse for the winner was $25,000.

Several thousand miles north at Bergsaker in Sweden, Cruzado Dela Noche (sired by Muscle Massive) won the Norrland Grand Prix over the 1-5/16th mile distance in 1:54.4f, driven by Per Linderoth, even though he trotted outside leading Tobin Kronos without cover most of the race.

Cruzado Dela Noche, who now is a stablemate to Nuncio in Stefan Melander’s barn, has improved quite a lot this year, and this was his third win in the last four starts.

Cruzado Dela Noche, who in the United States was trained by Nancy Johansson, is owned by Courant Stable and picked up $35,000 for the win.

And finally, 64-year-old Torbjörn Jansson, for many years one of the leading drivers in Sweden, has now won at all the harness tracks in Sweden. Until Thursday he had failed to win at the Karlshamn track in southern Sweden, which only races twice a year, but Jansson won two races and has now won on all 33 tracks in Sweden — the only one to ever accomplish this feat.