Going inside Braxten Boyd’s viral drive in the Pepsi North America Cup

by Brett Sturman

Since it was posted on Facebook four days ago, a video offering driver Braxten Boyd’s point of view with 53-1 outsider Madden Oaks in the Pepsi North America Cup final has now been shared and viewed collectively over 110,000 times. The 16-minute video staged and facilitated by the work of industry photographer Jessica Hallett, puts the viewer directly into the lens Boyd experience straight through from paddock to post-race interview. The unique view, result of the race and the raw emotion in between has made the video a sensation.

The stage for the race was set following the prior week’s Cup eliminations where Madden Oaks turned in a type of performance you don’t see too often. Driven by Boyd as he’s done now six times in his career, including his first career race last year as a 2-year-old. In the NA Cup elim, Madden Oaks, a 15-1 longshot from an outside post, circled parked horses early to blitz to the lead through a half mile in :53.2. Soon after, he took more pressure and somehow kept it together remarkably well to finish third beaten only by a length-and-a-half and thus qualifying for the Cup final.

The video from final night begins with Boyd and Madden Oaks trainer Cameron Capone completing their finishing touches on their outside post 10 starter Madden Oaks shortly before their departure from the paddock to the track. Maybe too young to even be phased by the moment, the 25-year-old Boyd set the tone early for what was to come when in response to a voice that said we’re either going to sink or swim together, he said, “We’re going to [expletive] swim, Cameron,” and again as if there was any doubt, repeated that identical sentiment.

On-track moments leading up to the start of the race show Boyd in isolation scoring down Madden Oaks. It seems like it can be a lonely place in those minutes, and I was interested as to what was going through Boyd’s mind during that time.

“I’m mainly just trying to get a feel of him,” said Boyd. “Him personally, I’m trying to keep him quiet because he doesn’t need to get started up. He’s the type of animal when he gets his mind on something he’s going to do it. So, I was mainly trying to keep him relaxed and get him loose enough where maybe I can get him to empty out but after that I’m really not trying to score him down much at all. It’s just horse dependent though. Most of the time I don’t keep horses that quiet, but not all horses are like that one.”

As if there was any doubt from Boyd’s comments in the paddock, this wasn’t a man who was going to play it safe in a career defining opportunity with $1 million on the line.

“Well, there was no away I was getting away 10th,” said Boyd. “I tried to do that with him last week and it just wasn’t happening. So really, plan A was to just float and figure it out, try to find the right helmet and not fight with him. Because I kind of thought that a couple more of them would have taken a shot but the way it played out when I was floating and only saw one other horse I was like yeah, let’s go to the front – I’m getting there easier than I ever thought I could.”

Coming into the homestretch with Boyd and Madden Oaks right in behind race leader Louprint, driven by Ronnie Wrenn, Jr., the video gives such a great view as to what drivers experience in the moment and the split-second decisions they’re forced to make.

As Boyd describes it, “When it was playing out in the last turn, I felt that I was going to be able to go right, eventually, if I had to, and wasn’t committed at that point to a direction. I’ve had the blessing of driving three other horses in that race previously and I knew that horse on the outside [Dandy Ideal] – he’s a really, really good horse but going 1:19 first-over, that’s just tough, so I knew I could eventually go right if need be. But then I was kind of sitting there waiting because I wasn’t sure if Ronnie’s horse would drift and I’m trying to stay on his helmet and keep him as brave as I can for when the time comes to go right, and in that moment, he drifted so I took the inside opening and just shot for it.”

Putting the viewer almost literally in the driver’s seat, the video captures all the encouragement as Boyd implores Madden Oaks to try to get on level with an incredibly game Louprint, where he ultimately finishes down a head after looking for a moment that he might have had the measure of his rival.

“I thought I was going to get him, but you’ve got to give so much credit to both those horses,” said Boyd. “I kind of felt like once he saw me that he gave Ronnie a little bit more. Only Ronnie would know that for sure but from my perspective I shot through and I’m thinking that I’m getting him and then the closer I got to Louprint’s head I was like wow, what a tough horse.”

Crossing the wire, the pure emotion is on full display between Boyd and winning driver Wrenn, Jr., both Michigan natives. Almost immediately there’s a “For Hunter” shout, referencing the late Hunters Myers whose memory is obviously kept very close amongst the drivers, followed by a congratulations between the two.

As Boyd describes it, “It’s kind of funny because when Ronnie was still driving in Michigan, I was still a young kid, and my dad [Brett Boyd] would race horses that Ronnie would drive. Not every time religiously, but Ronnie would drive for my dad very often and then when we weren’t racing as much in Michigan, we would take horses to Cleveland and Ronnie would drive and we had a lot of success together. There’s plenty of win pictures together where I’m either sitting in this race back or standing right next to him just hoping that one day I could drive races and win races.

“With Hunter, I didn’t have as close a relationship with him as Ronnie did. I just met him a couple of times, but my colors are similar, and then to have one of his great buddies Ronnie beat me by a dang nose – it was just pretty wild that it was us together on the wire.”

For all that was captured in the viral video, it will be a major contributing factor to having North America Cup 42 go down as one of the more memorable ones in history.