Harness: Readly Express fights off Bold Eagle in Prix d'Amerique

Readly Express denied Bold Eagle his third straight Prix d'Amerique victory Sunday at Paris's Vincennes Racecourse, holding him at bay in a thrilling stretch drive.

After several false depatures from the standing start, the race finally went off, and it would be Valko Jenilat (Eric Raffin) getting away best and taking the lead. She would give way to Propulsion (Orjan Kihlstrom) as they raced past the finish line for the first time, with Bird Parker (Jean-Philippe Monclin) then taking up the first-over position. Bird Parker would be able to get around Propulsion for the lead with about 1,000 meters to go, with Readly Express (Bjorn Goop) fanning three-wide from second-over on the last turn.

Bold Eagle (Franck Nivard) had followed Readly Express's every move up to that point, and Nivard tipped his charge to Readly Express's flank as they raced into the stretch. It looked like Bold Eagle had Readly Express's measure and would become the first horse since Ourasi to win three straight editions of the classic, but Readly Express would not be denied, battling back on the inside to take the victory. Propulsion came back on to get third, followed by Belina Josselyn (Jean-Michel Bazire) and Briac Dark (Mathieu Abrivard).

The time for the 2,700 meters was the same as last year's record - 1'11"2 (mile rate of 1:54.3).

Readly Express is a 6-year-old stallion by Ready Cash trained by Timo Nurmos for owner Bro Byggnads AB. Readly Express has never finished worse than third in his career, with a record of 21-3-1 from 25 starts.