Horses whose destination is Elitloppet

These are times of hard work for Anders Malmrot, Sportchef of the harness racing trotting races of the Solvalla racecourse in Sweden. In fact, it is he who invites the protagonists of the next Elitloppet 2023, and it certainly cannot be said that the task of him, however beautiful and interesting it may be, is a simple task: far from it.

There are so many horses all over the world that deserve access to the classic Solvalla race, even if Anders Malmrot has already been able to put together a list of guests so far that looks delicious with a new direct clash between Etonnant (Timoko) and Vivid Wise AS (Yankee Glide) as well as the champions San Moteur (Panne De Moteur), Horsy Dream (Scipion du Goutier) and Just Believe (Orlando Vici).

Considering that the author of this article is of Italian nationality, let’s start by considering Vivid Wise AS.

To tell the truth, we begin our examination with the champion of the Bivans stable as compared to all the horses previously mentioned, he was the last in time to provide a performance of absolute technical depth.

We are referring to the Cote d’Azur Grand Prix held on Monday 10 April at the Turin racecourse in Italy where Vivid Wise AS managed to win by closing with a tremendous burst of speed to the finish line after a course that saw him blocked at the fence, covering the last 400 meters in 26.9. However, this performance is only the latest victory for a major horse who will contest the Elitloppet for the fourth time this year.

In fact, Vivid Wise AS son already has a good feeling with the Solvalla pink race, where in 2021 he finished in second place behind Don Fanucci Zet and last year he finished in fourth place in what we can define the edition of Etonnant.

That Vivid Wise AS is a champion was already well understood when he was young in Italy when he made repeated victories in races aged two and three years, the fact is that now it is possible to speak of a complete and mature horse to such an extent that it is possible have a greater consideration of its characteristics in the race.

He likes to race trailing and then provide a poisonous partial in the decisive cue of the race. Let’s think, for example, of the victory he obtained about a month ago in the Criterium De Vitesse in Cagnes Sur Mer, a congenial track where, racing hard only the finishing straight, he won in 1.09.1 over the distance of 1609 meters which, not by chance, will be the same distance of the great Solvalla race.

Since the space of one article is not enough to cover the entire career of each horse, let’s move on to examine what will be another hot competitor of Elitloppet 2023 and which has been for a long time the direct opponent of Vivid Wise AS: Etonnant.

Winner of the 2022 edition, he could give Richard Westerink his fourth Elitloppet victory after the French trainer won not only the last edition with Etonnant, but also two editions with Timoko.

With reference to the 2023 edition, Etonnant remains under a not brilliant French winter where a physical problem forced him to retire at the Prix d’Amerique. However, Timoko’s son resumed his winning path already on his return where he won the Prix de Cauvicourt in Caen and became the winner again in Vincennes only a few days ago on the occasion of the Prix Kerjacques where he covered the 2700 meters in 1.11 .3 getting the better of an important European horse like Usain Toll.

An important business card therefore for Etonnant which, however, together with Vivid Wise AS given that there is no starting list where the starting numbers will be important to determine the chances and there is no complete guest list, they will still have to sweat and not a little to bring home a good result.

Another horse invited to Elitloppet 2023 that certainly won’t take off just to take a simple health walk is San Moteur.

To tell the truth, he was the first invited to this year’s edition. It is a horse that has often been able to distinguish itself in very demanding contexts, for example in the Swedish Trotting Derby where it finished in third place and the race was won by the Calgary Games, therefore not just any or indifferent opponent.

San Moteur’s best season was the last one or rather the five-year-old season where he won the Duke of Varmland Prince Carl Philips Jubilee Cup stopping the clock on 1.09.4 on the distance of 1640 meters to then win just a few months later, more precisely in August last year, the Jubilee Cup in Solvalla.

If the names mentioned above are horses that somehow can also have chances on the paper program, a mysterious object is Just Believe.

It is an Australian horse capable of performing well in his homeland capable of winning 18 races up to now including Group 1 races. This is the case for example of the success in the Inter Dominion Trotting Championship Grand Final and the Aldebaran Park Bill Collins Trotters Sprint.

Let’s proceed quickly in the overview of the horses invited up to now to the great race of Solvalla. A great interest will be directed to Horsy Dream able to implement in the French winter just ended, the best season of him.

We saw him as a protagonist on the occasion of the Prix Tenor De Baune and the Prix de Belgique, subsequently winning the Prix de Selection at the Prix d’Amerique below expectations.

The last invitation remaining current is that of Onas Prince who, we can bet, will take this opportunity as a revenge after last year he galloped. King’s Cup and Breeders Crown winner, Onas Prince also boasts a second place in the Swedish Trotting Derby during his career.

by Filippo Lago, for Harnesslink.com

(If you have any questions or story ideas for Filippo Lago, please email him at lagofilippo0@gmail.com)