by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Newsroom Senior Correspondent

The French trotting star, the 5-year-old Bold Eagle, driven by Franck Nivard and trained by Sebastian Guarato, proved again that he is in a class of his own by winning the prestigious Prix de France over the 1-5/16th mile distance at Vincennes on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 14).

Gerard Forni photo

Bold Eagle won the Prix de France on Sunday afternoon.

Bold Eagle didn’t get an easy trip. He had to overcome post position eight and he was forced to trot three wide for the first half of the race. After that he was parked outside leading Timoko, driven by Bjorn Goop. Down the stretch, Bold Eagle would go on to win in a hand drive from Nivard by three-quarters of a length in 1:53.4 (mile rate). Timoko held bravely for second, while Voltigeur de Myrt, driven by Gabriele Gelormini, finished third.

This was win number 22 from 25 races for Bold Eagle, who picked up a check for 180,000 Euro — or $200,000.

And what’s up next? That is to be decided, but Bold Eagle could race in the marathon race, the Prix de Paris, on Feb. 28 at Vincennes. The distance is 4,150 meters or around 2.5 miles. If he does, he could rewrite history, for not since 1977 has the same trotter won the three big international races at the Winter meeting (Prix d’Amerique, Prix de France and Prix de Paris) in the same year.

That was Bellino II, who did it three times in a row (1975-’77).