Sébastien Guarato will introduce four of his representatives to the start of the 2020 American Grand Prix on Sunday. A square of aces with profiles all very different from each other.
Before presenting them, we should already note that Sébastien Guarato has become accustomed to the multiple representations of his training in an Grand Prix d’Amérique. He is even the record holder of participations in the same edition. Both in 2019 and in 2018, the Ornais coach presented five of his boarders! With four elements (at the time of the unofficial scoring on Tuesday), he joins Jean-Lou Peupion, Fabrice Souloy and Daniel Redén (in 2017) among the coaches having four starters in the biggest race of the year.
At 47, Sébastien Guarato has occupied one of the first places in the national rankings for almost ten years. His name is on the list of all French selection races and he manages a stable which reveals new talents each season. For the 2020 edition, its four assets are:
Bold Eagle – 9 year old male
He is the most active French trotter, boasting his 21 Group I victories, including two in the Grand Prix d’Amérique (2016 and 2017). He will take part in his 4th world trotting championship on Sunday with always more news in his CV compared to last year. Bold Eagle indeed established in June the new record of victories in the Prix René Ballière (4), he knew how to go and win in Canada in October against the best American age horses and will be driven on Sunday by Éric Raffin, Sulky d’Or 2020 and since the start of the winter meeting has become its official pilot. Second in the Grand Prix du Bourbonnais then fifth in the Grand Prix de Bourgogne, he arrives with freshness at this Grand Prix d’Amérique and has left the favorite costume to others. To hit harder? We will see Sunday.
Billie de Montfort – 9 year old female
In an exceptional promotion of “B” (that of Bold Eagle, Bird Parker, Belina Josselyn, etc.), she was the first classic winner to win the Critérium des Jeunes. But the protege of Sébastien Guarato has proven that precocity can also rhyme with longevity, precisely under the impulse of his skillful trainer. Never leaving the highest level and accustomed to places of honor, she has twice won the European Tour of the French Trotter (2018 and 2019) and seems to be stronger than ever this winter. Its success in the Grand Prix de Bourgogne attests to this. What if it created a sensation on Sunday?
Face Time Bourbon – 5 year old male
It is up to him to take on the great challenge of this 2020 Grand Prix d’Amérique: at age 5, the gifted Face Time Bourbon meets his elders in a new stage in his destiny as a trotter apart. Often compared to Sébastien Guarato at the start with Bold Eagle, this new champion son of Ready Cash fulfilled all the missions that presented themselves to him, except one in Italy last May when he finished second to Zacon Gio in the Grand Prix d’Europe. Since then, Face Time Bourbon has set the record straight as the expression says and has won the two most important European competitions in the second half: the Grand Prix de l’UET in Finland and the Criterium Continental in December. Two races won by… Bold Eagle before he won his first Grand Prix d’Amérique. The road is clear.
Valko Jenilat – 11 year old male
This is another facet of the trotting coaching profession that presents itself there with Valko Jenilat. This valiant warrior has been trained by Sébastien Guarato from the start: he was the one who qualified him… nine years ago! If his career has had its ups and downs, Valko Jenilat has shown a superb longevity to line up on Sunday (if his participation is confirmed Thursday) at the start of his third Grand Prix d’Amérique. Winner of a qualifying race in 2017, the Grand Prix de Bretagne, he can also boast of having finished 2nd in the Bold Eagle in a Prix René Ballière. His participation would mark history since a new regulation allows 11-year-old horses to run until the end of March: he would therefore be the first to take advantage of these regulations to participate in the major event.
