by Karsten Bønsdorf, USTA Newsroom Senior Correspondent
The French trotting star Bold Eagle, driven by Franck Nivard, is the heavy favorite for Prix d’Amerique Opodo at Vincennes Sunday (Jan. 29) at 10:05 a.m. (EST) and he could be as short as 4-10 in the betting.
Bold Eagle has raced a total of 35 times. He was won 30 races, had two seconds, one fifth and finished unplaced twice, but has never gone off stride in a race. The last time he flopped was in April 2015, when he finished unplaced, but it turned out that he had the flu.
Bold Eagle is trained by Sebastian Guarato, who has decided to race him without shoes for the first time. Could that give the favorite an extra advantage?
Last year Bold Eagle won in a new race record of 1:54.4 (mile rate), followed by Timoko, driven by Bjorn Goop. Timoko, who is now a 10-year-old, will race for the sixth time in the Prix d’Amerique. And also for the last time, as trotters in France are not allowed to race as 11-year-olds and older.
Two North American-bred trotters will try their luck against Bold Eagle — Hambletonian Oaks winner Wild Honey, who will be driven by the Italian Gabriele Gelormini, and Propulsion, who will have the service of Ôrjan Kihlström from Sweden.
By the way, Jimmy Takter, who trained Wild Honey in the United States, is in Paris with his wife Christina and they visited Wild Honey at Grosbois Thursday afternoon.
Wild Honey and Propulsion are part of the four horse entry from young trainer Daniel Redén of Sweden. The two other horses are Lionel driven by Matthieu Abrivard and Call Me Keeper driven by Pierre Vercruysse.
The bloodlines this year in the Prix d’Amerique are dominated by North America. The Austrian pedigree expert, Nikolaus Matzka, has taken a closer look at the pedigrees and found that the 18 trotters have 58.33 percent North American bloodlines and only 41.66 percent French bloodlines.
Only three of the drivers have won the Prix d’Amerique before. Franck Nivard has won four times: Mealnes du Corta, Ready Cash (twice) and Bold Eagle. Jean Michel Bazire has won three times: Moni Maker, Kesaco Phedo and Uo and Quick. Ôrjan Kihlström has won once with Maharajah.
- The field is ready for the Prix d’Amerique (Thursday, January 26, 2017)
Eighteen trotters will compete in the 1 million Euro race, Grand Prix d’Amerique Opodo 2017 on Sunday afternoon (Jan. 29) at Vincennes and for the first time in many years, two North American-bred trotters are entered.
- Watch the Prix d’Amerique live! (Friday, January 27, 2017)
Harness racing fans interested in watching a “live” stream of Sunday’s Prix d’Amerique from France can do so by logging on to www.letrot.com and clicking on the “live” button at the top of the homepage.
- Bold Eagle trots to Triple Crown triumph (Sunday, February 26, 2017)
The 6-year old French trotter Bold Eagle, driven by Franck Nivard, won the third leg of the French Triple Crown, the Grand Prix de Paris, easily on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 26) at Vincennes in Paris, France.This was the first time since Bellino II in 1976, that a trotter won the Prix d’Amerique, Prix de France and Prix de Paris, which are the three big international races during the winter meeting.