Bold Eagle’s stock soaring in NZ

The French trotting superstar Bold Eagle, who has not been greatly represented in New Zealand and Australia, has sired the season’s richest three-year-old and two-year-old trotter in NZ in Kyvalley Ray and Apollo Eleven respectively.

Kyvalley Ray, last season’s outstanding juvenile trotter, has firmly established himself as the top ranking harness racing three-year-old in the country this year with successes in the Group 1 $110,000 NZ Sires’ Stakes 3YO Championship, the Group 1 $93,000 Great Northern Trotting Derby and the Listed $75,000 NZB Harness Million.

In 12 lifetime starts Kyvalley Ray has now won eight and has been once placed for $321,389 in stakes for trainer Brent Lilley, a former Kiwi horseman now based in Victoria, and owners Jim Connelly and Stewart Maxwell.

A $100,000 buy at the NZB National Yearling Sale at Christchurch in 2024, Kyvalley Ray was bred by maestro South Island horseman Phil Williamson and is the second foal of the Dream Vacation mare Kenny’s Dream, the dam also of the Listed $60,000 NZ Harness 5000 winner Tarragindi.

Kenny’s Dream, who won eight races and was the 2019 NZ 4YO Trotting Mare of the Year, was out of the bonny Sundon mare One Under Kenny, a sister to the trotting standout and seven-time Group 1 winner One Over Kenny.

A winner at Auckland and Cambridge at his first two attempts, Apollo Eleven stamped his class with an end-to-end success in the Group 1 $91,250 Young Guns Easton Light Classic at Alexandra Park last Friday.

The Bold Eagle colt Apollo Eleven has notched three wins and a third from four starts for $73,580 and is clearly the richest of his age, gait and sex this year.

Bred and part-owned by Breckon Farms, Apollo Eleven was a $90,000 buy at the National Yearling Sale at Karaka in 2025 and is out of the 2019 NZ 3YO Trotting Filly of the Year and thrice Group winner Tickle Me Pink (by Muscle Hill).

Tickle Me Pink, the winner of nine of her 16 starts and a NZ 1700 metres record holder, was a sister to the NZ Trotting Derby and Oaks winner Luby Lou, the dam of last season’s star NZ three-year-old trotter Meant To Be.

Another of Bold Eagle’s second NZ crop is the two-year-old filly Ellie Diamond, who has recorded a second, a third and a fourth from three outings.

In Australia, he is represented by only 17 two and three-year-olds so far.

Bold Eagle was one of Europe’s leading trotters in the late 2010’s, winning 47 of his 77 starts and more than $7 million including the prestigious Prix d’Amerique twice and the USA Breeders Crown.

During his illustrious career the son of Ready Cash won 24 Group 1 races, was a Triple Crown champion and set a string of European records.

Standing stud in Normandy, Bold Eagle has left top trotters the calibre of Aetos Kronos, a triple Group 1 winner in Sweden, the world champion Jushua Tree, the Swedish Breeders Crown champion Eagle Eye Sherry and numerous other Group winners throughout Europe.

The frozen semen of Bold Eagle is available in Australia and NZ from Pat Driscoll’s Yabby Dam Farms at Ballarat, Victoria.

by Peter Wharton, for Harnesslink